It's tipped to win an Oscar and has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Amanda Knox,
Audrie & Daisy and of course,
Making A Murderer, have already seen Netflix establish itself as one of the most influential supporters of original documentary features, but Ava DuVernay’s new film, 13th, might just be their most moving one yet.
The film is now available to watch on Netflix and
Rolling Stone have claimed that it's "so powerful that it just might change things" while also stating that "the Oscar for this year's Best Documentary belongs to 13th, Ava DuVernay's incendiary, indelible and indispensable document about the myth of racial equality in America".
13th currently has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 91% on Metacritic and a review from Variety which states "it's a crucial and stirring document - of racism and injustice, of politics and the big-picture design of America".
So what's it about?
13th refers to the 13th Amendment of the US 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 documentary charts the progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry with unflinching honesty. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, the documentarian attempts to create a work of grand historical importance.
Take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk
