Hollywood has always had an interesting relationship with history.

Film has the power to shape the popular understanding of the past like few other mediums.

The immersive power of film can bring history to life in a truly remarkable way.

But what happens when that power is used in a cavalier or irresponsible way?

What are the results for our understanding of history?

This question has been at the heart of the debate around historically themed cinema since

the earliest days of the art form.

The very first non-serial American 12 real film ever made was an ambitious historical

epic.

But it was also one of the most viciously racist films ever made.

Its skewed take on American history led to racial violence across the United States and even

contributed to the revival of the Ku Klux Klan.

I'm referring of course to DW Griffith's 1915 film, Birth of a Nation.

Being that Birth of a Nation is a controversial film would be hugely underselling it.

And this isn't just a case of modern viewers imposing their morality on the past.

At the time of its release, the film was the subject of massive protests.

African American leaders and other civil rights campaigners condemned the film's irresponsible

representation of the past and frankly hateful portrayals of black and mixed race Americans.

The famous civil rights leader, Booker T. Washington, organized a boycott of the film, and

activist William Monroe Trotter was even arrested during a protest at a movie theater.

At the time, the well-known New York rabbi, Stephen Wise, went on record saying that

the film was, quote, an indescribable foul and loathsome libel on a race of human beings.

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