Broken Blossoms (1919)

D.W. Griffith's silent film Broken Blossoms is the story of a young girl whose father abuses her. After being beaten nearly to death by her drunken father, she is rescued by a Chinese man and stays with him for a while. The two sort of fall in love and this makes her father quite angry. That's pretty much all there is to this story. In 1919 it would have been illegal for these two to be married so this film was rather controversial in that it depicted an interracial romance. There was no actual kissing and the actor playing the Chinese man wasn't Asian at all, but it was still controversial nonetheless.

This film is is nowhere near as extravagant as Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and instead creates a more intimate film shot entirely in studio. This film is also rather liberal in depiction of interracial romance and portrays the Chinese character as a rather moral individual which is a stark contrast to The Birth of a Nation.

While this film was probably quite controversial in its time and rather important, today it seems terribly dated. This is a typical problem with many silent films. While silent comedies tend to age rather well, silent melodramas such as this one can oftentimes be quite difficult for a modern audience to watch. As I could not put myself into a 1919 mindset while watching this film, I didn't care for it at all.

55/100
F