The film originally ran with the title
The Clansman and the
Ku Klux Klan were the clear heroes of the movie. The most
horrific scene is probably the one where the
newly freed slaves are trying to break into their former master's house to
ravish the innocent young white women trapped inside, while the Ku Klux Klansmen, in white robes on
noble steeds, speed to the rescue. Just a little bit inflammatory. Incredibly, the film is still used as a recruitment piece by the
KKK.
I think very few people would consider this a great film. What you do hear is people referring to it as a landmark film. It pioneered a number of new cinematic techniques and innovations including subtitles, night photography (using magnesium flares), the use of outdoor landscape as background, the technique of the camera "iris" effect, the use of parallel action in a chase sequence, use of tinting for dramatic effect, traveling or "panning" camera tracking shots, the use of total-screen close-ups to reveal dramatic facial expressions, and the use of fade-outs. Not to mention at three hours it was the longest film that had ever been made.
Though it hardly excuses Birth of a Nation, D. W. Griffith was a little chagrined by all the protests, and re-released a shortened version of the film without references to the KKK. He also tried to redeem his political reputation with his next project, Intolerance.