The Birth of a Nation

Looking for a drama that respects your time, available in Australia on JustWatch TV, and in the US on YouTube TV and FlixFling? The Birth of a Nation is a real answer. A tight runtime that never overstays its welcome. With 602 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Lillian Gish leads a cast that never overplays its hand. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on JustWatch TV.

The Birth of a Nation is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. The Birth of a Nation takes its time building the world its characters inhabit, and the patience pays off. Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch. Lillian Gish and Mae Marsh lead a cast that treats the material with real seriousness. It hit screens in 1915. The performances in The Birth of a Nation do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

The Birth of a Nation is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. If you have run out of similar titles to watch, this is a strong next pick. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Lillian Gish's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.

The Birth of a Nation was released in 1915, directed by D.W. Griffith. The full 193-minute film is available to watch now. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.