directed by Ava DuVernay
100 minutes
This is a documentary about a loophole in the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution. The documentary looks at how that loophole has been used and abused to keep as many people of color as possible in a state that bears a strong resemblance to slavery.
The documentary examines the transition from slavery to mass incarceration. It shines a light on events since the end of slavery that point to the fact that there is a strong bias in the United States of America toward keeping a large percentage of African American and Latino men locked up.
This documentary has been in my Netflix queue for a long time. Watching When They See Us, which was also directed by Ava DuVernay, earlier this year helped to push me to finally watch this movie. This is a message documentary. It hammers home the point that the 13th amendment has a loophole. It does so by first pointing it out but then it stops talking about it until the end. I wondered at times why it is named 13th but the documentary does loop around at the end to explain why.
It is interesting to note how things have and have not changed since this movie was made. Spotlights have been shown in recent years on some of the things that are only briefly touched on in the documentary. I am thinking of Fred Hampton (Judas and the Black Messiah), When They See Us, and Emmett Till (Till).
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