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It’s all about context.

Context is what helped drive The Birth of a Nation, the film directed by Nate Parker chronicling the Nat Turner slave revolt in 1831, to a spot on every pundit’s 2017 best picture prediction list when it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

In Hollywood, where black stories and voices are often overlooked and erased, at a time when #OscarsSoWhite was the talk of the town, Birth of a Nation was a welcome addition, one that Fox Searchlight paid $17.5 million to distribute in theaters.

Its message and connection to the current Black Lives Matter movement also contributed to its early success.

But context is also what has made the release of the film, nine months later, so controversial and fraught.

'Birth' of a controversy: Is Nate Parker's 'Nation' forever tainted?

In August, a 17-year-old rape allegation against Parker resurfaced when a Variety reporter asked the actor/director