The first time I saw D.W. Griffith's 1915 film Birth of a Nation was about 10 years ago in my History of Film class in university. The copy screened for us was completely silent and for 3 hours 150 of us (or at least those who didn't have to brains to skip this class) endured this piece of celluloid history, I floated in and out of consciousness willing for the film to hurry up and end (at least I didn't follow in my friend's example, he not only fell asleep, but started snoring during a silent film providing us with an apt soundtrack).
Mercifully, DJ Spooky cuts his remix of Griffith's epic down to 1.5 hours. He re-creates it to emphasize Griffith's sympathy towards the KKK. By using only actual film footage he's not imposing an agenda so much as reinforcing what is already there. The original film itself is based on a play called "The Clansman" and Griffith is continually criticized for his racist portrayals, DJ Spooky merely takes an extra step by removing all segments of the film that does not reiterate this point.I found the film as offensive as I did the first time and did not particularly view it in a new light, aside from the one or two scenes which I may have been asleep for 10 years ago. DJ Spooky speaks of Griffith using motion picture as a method of propaganda by doesn't elaborate on this point enough to my liking. I felt that he was holding the audience's hand in presenting a collage of offensive images and irritating voice-over about Griffith's intent, but did not give the same detailed treatment to his own points. Perhaps his target audience is not me and others who have already been exposed to Birth of a Nation?
He also periodically adds visual embelishments to Griffith's footage, in the forms of lines that draw the audiences' attention, geometry and other visual effects. Sometimes it's too obvious, we don't need his help, other times I found it pointless as it emphasized nothing, and still other times I thought he was just doing it for the sake of embellishment, for the sake of being ornate. I don't know if any of it was necessary, or whether it drove DJ Spooky's point across, but I did enjoy some of the alterations and surely I could always appreciate the film (original and remix) for its cinematic achievements.
His soundtrack is stirring and powerful as I would expect from DJ Spooky, spoiled only by the previously mentioned monotone voice-over. My main problem is... on one hand he desires to turn this film on its head, but his soundtrack simply follows the arch of Griffith's climax. At the height of conflict I felt the tension his music created but unlike his narration, the music did not make me see the ludicrous portrayal of the negros. If anything it reminded over and over I should be rooting for the Ayran race. Perhaps that was his intent, to reinforce Griffith's propaganda and demonstrate how this is done with the medium of film, but I can't say for certain. His music over-powered the bland narration and left me confused as to why each element of DJ Spooky's version is pointing to a different conclusion. It was a convoluted experience for me, but I'm no more or less offended by Birth of a Nation, and I can't tell if that's good or bad.
