Intolerance - Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

Watching Silent Films

In D.W. Griffith's "Masterpiece," Intolerance intercuts between four separate stories about man's inhumanity to man. In Babylon, pacifist Prince Belshazzar is brought down by warring religious factions. In Judea, the last days of Christ are depicted in the style of a Passion play. In France, Catherine de Medici presides over the slaughter of the Huguenots. And in California, a woman pleads for the life of her husband when he is sentenced to hang for a murder he did not commit.

In Intolerance, Griffith chose to explore the eponymous theme partly in response to criticism of his previous film, The Birth of a Nation, which was criticized by the NAACP and other groups as perpetuating racial stereotypes and glorifying the KKK. It was not, however, an apology, as Griffith felt he had nothing to apologize for.

In numerous interviews, Griffith made clear that the film's title and overriding themes were meant as a response to those who, he felt, had been intolerant of him in condemning The Birth of a Nation. In the years following its release, Intolerance would strongly influence European film movements. In 1989, it was one of the first films to be selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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Hosted by YiFeng and Lily

Recorded on July 9th, 2020