The film was harshly condemned (and is still attacked by some Black organizations e.g. NAACP) for its blatant racial bias and sympathetic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan (several subsequent lynchings were blamed on the film). But the protests only boosted box office receipts, which broke all records and made Griffith rich as well as famous. To further his ends in broadening his audience, Griffith can be understood as attempting to be subtle or "politically correct" basing the movie on a book, using his own patriotically provocative title than the term "clansman." At the end of the film he depicts a utopian world with a huge, super-imposed Christ-image having "brotherhood" appear in the sub-title--Perhaps in an effort to have the audience leave the theater subdued--without riot's potential.
The movie is worth the somewhat concentrated effort to follow sub-titles and occasional subtle acting. …
