1916 | USA | NR | 78 min.
As far as silent big-budget spectacles go,
D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance” gets all the glory.
But in its time, this little-known treasure was
so popular, and so influential, the Democratic
National Committee credited it with helping
to re-elect President Woodrow Wilson in
1916. Remembered today as perhaps both the
first anti-war film and the first film to depict
the Son of God, it’s the story of Jesus Christ
sending an order-defying submarine captain
back to earth as a messenger of peace.
Part powerful allegorical drama, part historic
curiosity, part trippy triumph, “Civilization” is
unlike anything you have ever seen.