The Role of Film in the Birth of a Nation

Keaton had no ambition to make something like the great dictator, right? Right. Like there was no bone in his body that was ever going to make a film that ends with a fucking eight minute monologue that's a direct plea to the audience against fascism. I think he viewed that kind of thing as well. Who knows? He would have felt in the mid thirties when, you know, he wasn't really making movies anymore and things are getting hot. But I don't know. The weird DNA of film history is like it was used so much to perpetuate narratives to be written enlightening by those in positions of power or what have you.