"The cradle endlessly rocking"
Having come under attack following the release of his 1915
masterpiece The Birth of a Nation
D.W. Griffith wanted to show in his next picture that intolerance of people’s
views was just as bad and created one of the seminal early silent movies, Intolerance. The story follows four
completely unrelated but thematically linked stories, each with the theme of
intolerance. The story given the most screen time is a contemporary story of
crime and suffering. Perhaps the most famous strand is the fall of Babylon
while a story of Jesus’ crucifixion and one revolving around a 16th
century French massacre are given less time but are nonetheless integral to the
story.
Despite its age and overlong runtime the film remains one of
the great classics of the silent era and is frequently mentioned alongside some
of the greatest films ever made.
