The story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
A 1916 epic silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era.
The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines, each separated by several centuries:
1 | A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption.
2 | A Judean story: Christ's mission and death.
3 | A French story: the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572.
4 | A Babylonian story: the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC.
Each story had its own distinctive color tint in the original print.
The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood, rocking a cradle.