The 13th | Ava DuVernay | NYFF 2016
The 13th amendment of the United States Constitution freed the slaves and prohibited slavery, but a key part of this amendment is that it prohibited slavery unless as a punishment for a crime. DuVernay takes this amendment and expands upon it in her powerful new documentary The 13th.
The 13th opens with a audio clip of President Barack Obama noting that the United State Of America has only five percent of the world’s population, yet they also have twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners. It’s a stunning fact that isn’t a total surprise, but it’s the sort of thing that we tend to put in the back of our mind but when you see it presented so boldly in plain sight, it has a shocking and sobering impact.
DuVernay presents clips of interviews with various political activists, politicians and other “talking heads” such as Angela Davis, Newt Gingrich, Van Jones and Corey Booker. These figures explain and expand upon this amendment that has really acted as a loophole to oppress African Americans and keep a form of slavery with the prison system. African American in Southern States would be arrested for minor offenses, often unable to pay fines, and forced into this labor in prisons as a result.
It looks at the impact of the war on drugs and the rate of incarceration climbing at a great rate since the 1970’s even as crime has been on a steady decline. DuVernay links the past with the present, even using more recent clips of Presidential candidate Donald Trump that aren’t surprising, but still rage inducing nevertheless.
Some of these facts viewers may already be somewhat knowledgeable about, but then DuVernay presents shocking facts about prison contractors coming into the picture to help handle the rapid increase of incarceration. And companies benefiting financially from having prisoners and keeping them longer so that they contribute manual labor for these companies. It’s a shocking and disgusting reality that isn’t as widely known as it deserves to be, but DuVernay lays all the cards on the table for us to absorb.
It’s 2017 and you’d think that we’d be progressing as a society and in many ways we are, but in others we are still taking many steps back. The 13th presents many examples of the systematic flaws that seem to be as strong as ever and it’s a depressing and frustrating experience to sit through and realize that not much has really changed and that we seem to be headed down a very scary path.
DuVernay never overplays her hand, presenting her interview subjects with a powerful simplicity that allows their posture and words to do all the framing for her. She makes the topic easy to understand and process in a simple but never pandering fashion that ties together parts of the past and present and presents it with a neat bow.
It’s an enlightening and powerful documentary that is as timely as it could possibly be, and necessary. There’s a lot of change that needs to happen in this world and we can’t make it happen with the snap of a finger overnight, but with illuminating passion projects such as this, we can help bring these issues to the public consciousness and help raise awareness. Now that’s a step in the right direction.
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