The Birth of a Nation 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Birth of a Nation 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

The intentionally provocative title The Birth of a Nation raised a few eyebrows even before this film was officially released, but another kind of eyebrow raising began after the film's release when its writer, star and director Nate Parker turned out to have a few skeletons in his closet. The film purports to tell the story of famous slave revolt leader Nat Turner, but much of the press surrounding the film has been less about Turner than Parker.

The Birth of a Nation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Birth of a Nation is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 2.40:1. This is another digitally shot film finished at a 2K DI which reveals noticeable if sometimes subtle upticks in detail levels. There's greater clarity in "simple" elements like facial pores now, and even in some dimly lit moments, as in the opening sequence with the shaman, close-ups featuring faces resonate with a new precision and with excellent fine detail levels. As I mentioned in our The Birth of a Nation Blu-ray review, some of the film has been graded to a kind of slate gray tone, but with the emoluments of HDR, there's a slight but noticeable rejiggering of the color space that's interesting and often quite beautiful, despite the sometimes gruesome sights being depicted. Interestingly, the slightly desaturated look I mentioned in the original review isn't marginally affected here, and the tendency for greens (as in the surrounding foliage) to be on the drab side is continued in this UHD presentation. There's incremental improvement in shadow detail across the board in this version, something that helps to reveal sometimes minute details in things like fabrics in the many nighttime or dimly lit scenes.

The Birth of a Nation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This 4K UHD disc features the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track assessed in our The Birth of a Nation Blu-ray review. This is the rare Fox release where the 4K UHD and 1080p Blu-ray discs sport the same audio and subtitle specs.

The Birth of a Nation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

In a rarity for a Fox 4K UHD disc, there are at least a couple of supplements on this disc. The 1080p Blu-ray included in this package includes all of the supplements detailed in our The Birth of a Nation Blu-ray review.

• Commentary by Nate Turner


• Deleted Scenes (3:26)

The Birth of a Nation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It will be interesting to see how The Birth of a Nation's reputation changes, or if indeed it changes at all, with the passage of time and greater distance from the brouhaha raised once some of Parker's history started entering the critical fray. There's no denying that this film has a serious, sobering tone, and the story, despite being needlessly fictionalized, is important and deserves to be as well known as possible. This 4K UHD presentation offers nicely if at times subtly upgraded video, and comes Recommended.