(CNN) "The Birth of a Nation" is a very good, at times powerful movie. But for the film to be considered an Oscar frontrunner -- a weight it has borne since triggering a bidding frenzy at the Sundance Film Festival -- would require a relative weak year. Fairly or not, the movie can't be divorced entirely from those expectations, or the other noise and controversy that has swirled around it. At this point, it's all but impossible to completely separate the film from award politics or Parker's history. Trying to be dispassionate about it, the movie is very much worth seeing, without rising to a level that warrants the early enthusiasm affixed to it.

Source: CNN October 04, 2016 23:26 UTC