Silent Film Marathon: Film 2

The Birth of A Nation is one of the best known of Silent films, mainly because of the controversy that surrounds it.
It is widely claimed to be a major step forward in Cinema in terms of technical abilities, budget and the amount of money it made, among other things.
It was the highest grossing film of the Silent era, making about 10 million dollars.

 I had heard much about it before viewing it, the controversy, the ground breaking technical achievements etc. And was curious to find out for myself what all the fuss was about.
Some reviews I had read criticised the film in the strongest possible terms for it's content which they labelled nothing less than racist. Some called for people to look past the controversial content and recognise the films technical achievements. I can't recall any saying they enjoyed or could relate to the story though...