Intolerance

"Intolerance" New/#49, 1916
It's always intriguing to me when a movie not on the original list is added to the anniversary list, especially considering the movie was around when the original list was made. So what is it about the movie that made it qualified to be added to the list.
Well anyways...
I was not excited for this movie. It had three strikes against it before I even started the movie. 1) It's a silent film, 2) it's a silent drama, and 3) It's three and a half hours long. So that was a great set up. However, somehow, I enjoyed it. The movie is a 'drama of comparisions' and it's shown in two acts. Probably so that the people in the movie theatre could have a bathroom break. I think I watched it in about four chunks. The movie is a bunch of overlapping stories-I think there were four. There was the "Modern Story" (keep in mind modern still meant early 1900's) in America, one from ancient Babylon around 500BC featuring King Belshazzar, one around the 1500's in France, and the crucifixion of Jesus circa 30AD. The main story was the modern one, we also followed that one the longest, I think it spanned three or four years, while the Babylonian story spanned three or four days. Luckily, this movie (generally) clued the audience into which story it was. I really loved that none of the characters really had names. I mean, there was Belshazzar, who was the King of Babylon. But, the girl in the modern story was The Dear One and she met (and then married) The Boy. And the girl in the french story was Brown Eyes. The girl in Babylon who lived out in the mountain was, The Mountain Girl. I think using those names made it a lot easier to keep track of what story was about to be shown. When the audience sees "The Mountain Girl", they know it's the Babylonian story. Had they said, "Mary & John", the audience may have been confused if it was The Dear One and The Boy from the modern American story, or Brown Eyes and The Prince. I mean, the audience may have figured it out, but I just watch The Sing-Off (an a capella singing competition) and even though I'd watched five episodes, I have no idea what the first name of the main singer of my favorite group is, so really, it's also very probable that the audience would be confused throughout.
As you probably guessed, the movie is about intolerance. It showed every type of discrimination... religion, sex, social class, age, etc. And, by jumping between the modern story and the three older stories, it artistically showed that nothing has changed, intolerance still ruins the lives of people.
So, as I said above, I actually really enjoyed this movie. Even though you still have to deal with the epic background music and the extreme overacting, I think this movie is worth watching. I think any silent drama film that is 3 1/2 hours, that I still consider to be a good movie, is probably a really good movie. So, if you have a chance to watch it (probably in at least two, maybe four sittings), you should!