Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

lol the original pulp fiction

As epic as they come–that Babylon set was nuts. While I wish this had been an hour shorter, I appreciated the rhythm and the movement of this movie. It felt symphonic to me: the steady bass line of the “Eternal Motherhood,” the different storylines being played like different instruments contributing to a common theme, and playing off of each other throughout to the crescendo of the final conclusion. When I read that Griffith didn’t intend for the film to be an apology for “Birth,” it struck me as a huge narcissistic reaction to criticism. (“I’m not racist, you’re racist.”) But ultimately here the filmmaking can’t be denied, and I’d include this over the former in any "Top X" list.

I had to watch this to finish the AFI top 100 list and it is not an easy watch. As a piece of history I can appreciate it but as a movie I did not enjoy it. It has a large scale for the time and it is impressive.