i have been wanting to see more silent films but i have trouble watching them because i am more of a multi-task kind of person. i especially like to surf the net and stuff as i watch a movie. when i do that, i pay less attention to the movie and usually end up not liking the movie. then again, if it's a really good movie, i will stop paying attention to the computer and focus on the film. silent movies were never really silent because they always had soundtracks (often someone at the piano in the theater) but you can't tell what's going on by the dialogue because you have to read it, making it really hard to multi-task to a silent film. i mean, have you ever heard someone shout, "keep it down, i'm trying to watch a silent movie!"

i have never seen a d. w. griffith film and he is considered to be one of if not the greatest silent film director. some of his films starred the famous sisters, dorothy and lillian gish. even though i don't think i had seen a single film of theirs, i was a fan in high school. through the little underground network of classic film fans that i had tapped into, i bought a signed photo of the sisters. it still makes me chuckle to read what they often wrote on autographed pictures, "best wishes from the gishes". all these years later, it's about time i saw some of d. w. griffith's films and the classic silent gishes. twiddle thumbs being away due to work is the perfect time as she has no interest in classic movies, especially silent cinema.

first, the controversial griffith. i netflixed "birth of a nation" and "intolerance". these two films are connected. if you don't know, "birth of a nation" gave griffith a bad name as a racist and he made "intolerance" to try to control the damage. i found "birth of a nation" more exciting and intriguing than "intolerance". at first "birth of a nation" is alright. nothing too spectacular. but as it goes on, it becomes as one review i have read put it, a propaganda film for joining the kkk. even though you know it's a racist film, and there is the disclaimer at the beginning about how this film is just depicting intolerance in our american history, more or less, it still makes your butt cringe to watch racist shit, especially black face. i'm sitting there watching it and starting to think if everyone in the south felt that way at the time and remembering my own uncomfortable journey into the south as a teenager. at the end of the day, racist intentions or not, it's worth viewing.

"intolerance" is an epic of 4 tales throughout history interwoven together that was not riveting enough for me to really get into. plus, have i mentioned how fucking long these movies are? it's a miracle for a modern person to watch them in one sitting without falling asleep. i firmly believe in watching films in one sitting or else you lose interest and continuity gets disrupted. hence, i watch even these incredibly long silent films in one sitting. but still, it is hard to do and not for anyone who isn't hardcore into classic films. the babylon portion was probably the most interesting to me overall. the sets and characters were just more enjoyable. the french portion was the least interesting. i'm just not really in the know of or interested much in european history i suppose. the modern portion is modern at the time of production, hence heavily outdated but the general sense still applies. the final portion is one that i hardly even remember but it's supposed to be at the time of jesus christ.