Basically the film focuses the criminal justice system in America, specifically the "intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States". The title is in reference to the 13th Amendment in the United States Constitution, this was responsible for the abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. I try every year to watch as many, if not all, films nominated during Awards Season, especially the Oscar nominated movies, this documentary was one I had heard about, so I watched it when it was available on Netflix, directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma). A really powerful film that is worth watching, if you can bear it And even without watching the interview the director gave to Oprah (late 2016 it was, because Trump already was elected, who's also prominent in this documentary), you can tell it was thoroughly investigated and there was a lot of time spent into the making of it, the "sets"/interview locations, the editing and the Questions.
#How long is 13th film? movie#
It's not an easy movie to watch and it does put its finger into a wound that has not healed. Now while you may think criminals are bad people and I should not care about them, I'd advice you to watch this movie and maybe you reconsider what you think. So while there technically aren't any slaves in America (not talking about illegal working, human trafficking or anything else against the law), this law makes it possible to have some within the context of the law. But apart from the number connected to a law that was supposed to do a lot of good and instead only shifted things. The number 13 again used and identified as a bad number.
It seems this documentary wants to take away any punishment for those who commit crimes. The film also fails to really make a point that if you didn't commit a crime to begin with then you won't have to worry about the system. We're constantly told about how crime rates are falling yet this documentary never talks about the locations where crimes rates are going sky high. Well, we know Michael Brown never had his hands up. We're told about how awful this country is and how people of color are being terrorized. With that said, the final portion of the film turns into a more Liberal documentary where the likes of Michael Brown and others are brought up. All of this is brilliantly told and the way the evidence is laid out was wonderfully done. The documentary did a great job at going decade to decade showing the various laws that opened the prison doors including the "Three Strikes and You're Out" policy and why many people are serving life sentences for minor crimes. As far as the film goes, it does a terrific job at showing the prison system and how so many more people are now behind bars. With that said, the final half hour goes completely off the mark but we'll get to that in a bit.
13 is an extremely well-made movie and for the first hour it's an extremely balanced movie. In today's day and age it's hard to find a documentary that is fair or balanced because filmmakers have a cause when they make movies and they want to throw all of their opinions and facts into what they're trying to push. We see the political punches that were thrown by Reagan, Bush and Clinton and how people hope things can be changed. The documentary takes a look at the prison system in America and we see how the populations in prison have gone up through each of the last five decades. 13th (2016) *** (out of 4) Extremely well-made, if one-sided, documentary that takes a look at the 13th Amendment and the mass incarceration that many claims is haunting this country.