Directed by: D.W. Griffith
Written by: D.W. Griffith & Anita Loos
Starring: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh
The siege of Babylon impressed the hell out of me. I wonder if it's because I know it was achieved with sets, extras with costumes, and camera trickery. In 1916 that would have taken a lot of money and a lot of planning. I mean it's only confined to a couple single shot locations but the sheer magnitude of what's being captured on film is astounding. Flame tanks, beheadings, men falling off the ramparts of 300 foot walls, and the statue of Ishtar glowing with her favour, turning the tide of battle - all these elements made for a breathtaking finale to the first half of the movie.
Intolerance is wildly ambitious. Set across 4 different time periods, it tells the story of love and the forces against love (intolerance). The main story is a present day tale about a poor young woman who endures multiple hardships through the actions of a temperance society, trying to eradicate everything they deem an affront to decency (dancing, drinking, and then single mothers). There's the aforementioned war between Babylon and Cyrus which focuses on a mountain girl who falls for the ruler of the great city. In 14th century France there's fighting between Catholics and Protestants with a peasant girl called "Brown eyes", and there's the story of Jesus Christ.
The film cuts back and forth between these time periods, the backdrop of the title cards letting us know where in history we are. There's also the book of intolerance which is the overall framing device of the story, along with the film cutting back to a woman rocking her baby in a blue lit room. I haven't watched much silent film but I am constantly delighted by how the use of colour tinting, title cards, and music help convey the story being told through the movement onscreen. How so much of the composition of these single shot scenes is striking. How even though the characters don't have names for the most part (the woman in the main story being known as "the dear little one"), I found myself attached to their plight. I was furious when the uplifters (the temperance society) took her baby from her.
Not all these stories have happy endings. Babylon is betrayed and the Mountain Girl is shot with arrows as Cyrus and the priests of Bel take over. Brown Eyes is murdered along with her lover in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and well, we all know how the story of Jesus Christ ends. The single shot of him on the cross is majestic, the screen bathed in a stunning purple. The Dear Little One's husband is charged with a murder he didn't commit and is sentenced to death. There's a tense race against the clock as she tries to halt this wrongful execution. This climax is inter-cut with the climax of all the stories, and it brings to light how the modern day tale and the Babylon story have the most care put into them. The story of Brown Eyes and Jesus Christ seem like an afterthought with how they resolve, even though I feel their resolutions are stronger than the resolution of the Babylon story.
The film ends on a saccharine note. The same tint that was used for the rocking baby is used for scenes of conflict and incarceration. The film urges us to allow peace and love to overcome our intolerance as the prison fades to a field of flowers. Thinking back over the 4 tales, I'm not sure peace and love helped to resolve any of the stories. It certainly influenced the actions of certain characters, but for the most part, things did not work out. Perhaps the idea is we shouldn't stop striving for this ideal no matter the outcome, but watching those scenes, I couldn't help but feel this moral lesson was unearned and watered down a lot of the spectacle and drama that came before it.
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