Intolerance (film)

*Intolerance* is a monumental American anthology silent film released in 1916.

Directed by D. W. Griffith, the film is subtitled as *Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages* and *A Sun-Play of the Ages*. It functions as a massive epic that explores the theme of human intolerance. The film uses a unique structure to show how lack of acceptance affects humanity across different eras.

Critics often describe it as a "film fugue" because of its complex, overlapping layers. It is widely regarded as one of the most influential works of the silent era.

The film operates through a complex mechanism of intercutting four parallel storylines. These stories are separated by hundreds or even thousands of years. To connect these different eras, Griffith used a symbolic visual device. He inserted shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood rocking a cradle. This image represents the passing of generations through time. The film uses over 50 transitions to move between these segments. As the movie builds toward its climax, the frequency of these transitions increases.

In the original prints, each story also featured its own distinctive color tint.

There are four distinct stages or storylines within the film. The first is the Babylonian story, set in 539 BC. It depicts the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia. The second is the Judean story, set around AD 27. This sequence focuses on the mission and death of Christ. The third is the French story, set in 1572 during the Renaissance. It depicts the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of Protestant Huguenots. The final stage is the Modern story, set around 1914. This segment follows characters through a cycle of crime, poverty, and social conflict.

Griffith developed this massive project as a rebuttal to his previous film, *The Birth of a Nation*. That earlier film was criticized by the NAACP and others for supporting racial stereotypes. Griffith did not view *Intolerance* as an apology for his past work. Instead, he believed his critics were themselves being intolerant. He wanted to create a film that addressed the concept of intolerance directly. This motivation led him to expand a smaller project into this sprawling, multi-layered epic.

The production of the film was a colossal undertaking involving massive resources. Griffith used more than 3,000 extras to fill his monumental sets. The total cost to produce the film was $385,906.77. This was a very high amount for 1916. A single scene, the Belshazzar feast, cost $250,000 to film. This one scene accounted for a huge portion of the total budget. One third of the entire budget went specifically into the Babylonian segments.

The sets were so large that they included tall walls for Babylon and streets for Judea.

Each storyline features specific characters that represent human types rather than named individuals. In the Modern story, the central female character is called "The Dear One." Her husband is known simply as "The Boy." The leader of the local Mafia is called "The Musketeer of the Slums."

In the Babylonian story, the conflict involves Prince Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great. The Judean story features the Nazarene and Mary, the mother of Jesus.

These archetypal names were intended to make the characters emblematic of all people.

The significance of *Intolerance* extends far beyond its initial release. While it was not a massive commercial success at first, it earned approximately $1.75 million. This amount allowed the backers to recoup their investment. The film's unorthodox editing style deeply influenced European and Soviet filmmakers. Many of Griffith's assistants, such as Erich von Stroheim, became famous directors. In 1989, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. This honors its cultural, historical, and aesthetic importance to the world of art.