13th

Name: 13th
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Released: October 7, 2016
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 83

2016

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 142 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	Your Score
7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 142 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: October 7, 2016 | TV-MA

Summary: The title of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors ofThe title of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.… Expand

Director: Ava DuVernay

Genre(s): Crime, Documentary

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 100 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Peter Travers

Oct 5, 2016

13th, available in theaters and on Netflix, is one for the cinema time capsule, a record of shame so powerful that it just might change things. Godspeed. Read full review

100

Alan Scherstuhl

Sep 30, 2016

Few films shake and astonish like this one, even though nothing in it should be a surprise. Read full review

A.A. Dowd

Oct 6, 2016

That’s a lot of ground to cover, and the film can be as exhausting, in its flood of information, as it is exhaustive. But DuVernay keeps it all chugging and churning along, propelled by the force of her montage and the sheer volume of damning, gripping material. Read full review

Nico Lang

Oct 5, 2016

13th — at times dampened by its own enormous ambitions — would be even more effective if it tried to do a little less. Read full review

Alissa Wilkinson

Aug 5, 2019

The movie's arguments and implications for policy are a matter of life and death, and yet it’s the images that stayed with me after 13th. Read full review

Dave Calhoun

Sep 30, 2016

What comes across loud and clear is that 13TH is a serious, timely, important work with highways and byways of thought that are worth traveling for anyone who cares to understand why, as DuVernay argues, slavery didn’t end with slavery. Read full review

David Edelstein

Oct 1, 2016

In the main 13th makes connections that haven’t been made in a mainstream documentary before. Read full review

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User Reviews

Dattwood7

Oct 7, 2016

Essential. Just wait until it gets to the part about ALEC and how politicians/corporations have a vested interest in harsh crime laws and keeping prisons filled. Unbelievable.

6 of 14 users found this helpful68

HiiighPower

Oct 8, 2016

This is essential viewing. Its focus on the historical impact of institutional racism in the US is both timely and timeless. An eye-opening documentary that will certainly inspire a new wave of much-needed activism.

4 of 12 users found this helpful48

alwaysme

Oct 30, 2016

This documentary really made me stop and think. I don't live in America but as a person and as a citizen of a developed country I can't let this pass. Is slavery still tolerated today, in the supposedly "land of the free"? How can I make a change? Why the apparently evolved Americans have soThis documentary really made me stop and think. I don't live in America but as a person and as a citizen of a developed country I can't let this pass. Is slavery still tolerated today, in the supposedly "land of the free"? How can I make a change? Why the apparently evolved Americans have so much fear and indifference in their hearts? How can a person be humanized?… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

Geordiecanuck

Oct 12, 2016

Beautifully scripted and thoughtfully edited, like The Corporation before it, a lament to the injustice of life for the poor and defeated and a new angle on the futility of any kind of change...jeebus help the rest of us...I do suggest that "we" stops meaning colour and starts really meaningBeautifully scripted and thoughtfully edited, like The Corporation before it, a lament to the injustice of life for the poor and defeated and a new angle on the futility of any kind of change...jeebus help the rest of us...I do suggest that "we" stops meaning colour and starts really meaning "WE"...so with that in mind, WHAT CAN WE DO TO CHANGE???… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

AquaMorph

Dec 10, 2016

This was a great documentary and covered an important topic but in an heavy handed manner which kind of derailed the documentary. I think it could have pulled that tone off if it offered potential solutions to the problems it was addressing but after all that is much harder to do than toThis was a great documentary and covered an important topic but in an heavy handed manner which kind of derailed the documentary. I think it could have pulled that tone off if it offered potential solutions to the problems it was addressing but after all that is much harder to do than to blame people in the first place.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

mvrts

Jun 25, 2020

Lacks facts and data, Bryan Stevenson seems to be the only reasonable person on the panel who doesn't try to push an agenda. Incarceration numbers went up yes, but they didn't explain the economic or social factors that contributed to it. Smears Clinton, whom I strongly dislike, for tryingLacks facts and data, Bryan Stevenson seems to be the only reasonable person on the panel who doesn't try to push an agenda. Incarceration numbers went up yes, but they didn't explain the economic or social factors that contributed to it. Smears Clinton, whom I strongly dislike, for trying to make communities safer.Three strike law has ruined many live sure, but why play into their hands and get to that point?… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

signum88

May 4, 2020

This documentary takes a situation that is very much gray and paints it completely black. It's essentially a recap of the last 70 years of the USA's history, except every choice and event is made to look like conspiracy of the whites to enslave and torture black people. More fuel for theThis documentary takes a situation that is very much gray and paints it completely black. It's essentially a recap of the last 70 years of the USA's history, except every choice and event is made to look like conspiracy of the whites to enslave and torture black people. More fuel for the fire of division.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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