On 13th

13^th is one of more important documentaries that you will watch. From Selma (2014) director Ava DuVernay, 13^th is the history of mass incarceration in the US, argued here as being a new iteration of slavery.

This is a film of numbers that should not be forgot. The statistics are devastating and delivered in a measured tone. The interviewees are angry, as everyone should be, but they have turned that anger into productivity towards a fight for justice; they are academics, authors, and lawyers for the incarcerated, as well as past inmates. DuVernay frames them well against muted, but stylish backdrops and the industrial aesthetic is attractive to watch without distracting from the issue, which is presented clearly with the help of contemporary graphics and an excellent soundtrack. 

As gripping as 13^th is, the message is distressing and you cannot help but be moved by the final third, which highlights, through video captured on phones, the more recent deaths of young black men at the hands of police brutality. The Eric Garner footage has lost none of its power despite its ubiquity. 13^th is so important because of deaths like this. The hope being that the documentary is more than just a source of information, but can actually affect policy change in the American criminal justice system. Criticisms may be levelled at the film due to its one-sided approach (a lobbyist for the privatisation of prisons makes a pathetic appearance), but this approach is far more welcome than a more balanced documentary that favours the argument on the other side. And DuVernay fortunately avoids the sardonic Michael Moore approach, which trivialised the importance of the issue he was reporting on.

DuVernay isn’t alone in currently pressing this matter as she sees the danger lurking in the form of Trump. It is mentioned in the documentary that Bush the first won by creating a fear of the black man without ever saying it and through a short montage splicing together footage from Trump rallies with that from the civil rights movement, she makes her point with shocking precision. The detailed description of how the prison system operates has also recently been dramatised by the excellent The Night Of (2016) shown on Sky Atlantic, this mini series terrifies by illustrating the ease with which the system is designed to destroy lives. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me also explores the destruction of the black body and like 13^th, traces the issue back to slavery.

The strength of the argument here is overwhelming and it becomes clear that those refuting the statistics do so for self-preservation. Neo liberalism incarnate. This is a film to not just anger, but to motivate people into action.

As was said of American Honey, and will be said of I, Daniel Blake, 13^th is a reflection of the right now, as important a documentary as there can be and essential viewing.