A sure contender.
13th
Grade: A-
Director: Ava DuVernay (Selma producer)
Screenplay: DuVernay, Spencer Averick
Runtime: 1 hr 40 min
by John DeSando
“The Bureau of Justice reported that one in three young black males is expected to go to jail or prison during his lifetime, which is an unbelievably shocking statistic.” Bryan Stevenson
The unalterable fact that 1 in 3 young black males can expect to be imprisoned contrasts with 1 in 17 white males with that future. For the U.S. to have 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prisoners is as much as you need to know to think about the need for penal reform in our country.
Ava DuVernay’s documentary, 13th, powerfully underscores my first paragraph with facts that show overwhelming prejudice toward blacks, who were supposed to have been liberated from slavery and considered equal. While the film shows some of the stock footage from plantations to Ferguson, where black men are systematically attacked, the thrust of this eminently worthy doc is to show not only the prevailing injustice but also to show the rationale for its roots and its image in contemporary police violence.
When Bill Clinton apologizes for his era’s tough law and order legislation (three strikes and you’re out, for example), you know the system can share blame for democrats and republicans alike. Ironically Clinton also chastises the Black Lives Matter protestors: “You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter!” Although 13th doesn’t offer quick solutions, it does as well as any documentary to point us in the right direction and expose its contradictory effects.
13th is less strident than most about the racial injustices of our society, their roots, and their contemporary legacies. It should be a contender for Oscar best documentary.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
