Review #46 | "13th" (2016)

Criminal. The history of America has never been a smooth narrative. There seems to be no hope moving forward. Director Ava DuVernay hopes that her illustration of American criminality of African Americans will educate our society on what steps to take next.

Since the 13th Amendment slavery has been an illegal practice in the United States, except for criminals. DuVernay argues that the inclusion of this specification has devastated the Black community since the amendment was ratified. Through interviews and found footage the audience is taken on an illustrated journey of the atrocities, however well intentioned at the time, have ultimately led to the United States claiming the largest incarceration rate in the world, with over one million citizens currently serving time. Parallels between then and now are all too identical to the behavior of American racism present after the civil war. Perhaps most erie are the parallels between abuse of African Americans and people of color in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the behavior of Trump sympathizers on the campaign trail. America can learn, but only if she listens.

DuVernay takes a predominately neutral directorial approach to the material, revealed only by strategically placed talking heads and presentation of found footage. This overall sense of directoral neutrality, not personal neutrality, stems from the original goal of the documentary to investigate the incarceration rate in America. To paraphrase DuVernay in a Netflix interview with Oprah Winfrey, "documentary filmmaking is an investigation, leading you to different paths along the way."

"13th" achieves its original goal and so much more with an arsenal of material, past and present, and a well oiled machine in the form of Netflix to present its findings in a polish and accessible platform.

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Runs 1 hour and 40 minutes.