13th

13th

2016, Crime  -   18 Comments
5.64
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Ratings: 5.64/10 from 138 users.

In the gripping and traumatic feature-length documentary 13th, critically acclaimed filmmaker Ava DuVernay characterizes the modern-day U.S. criminal justice system as a direct extension of slavery. This Oscar-nominated film exposes the real motives behind the record number of incarcerations in the U.S., and smartly harkens back to this phenomenon's shameful origins over a century ago.

The United States holds the record for the most incarcerations per capita in the entire world. Lawmakers and penal system representatives claim this unprecedented enslavement is the byproduct when one is tasked to keep their communities safe from violent or destructive criminal activity. But the overwhelming evidence - as presented in the film - indicates otherwise.

The film begins by outlining the lasting reach of popular mythmaking as epitomized in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, which successfully resuscitated the Ku Klux Klan and promoted the image of the black man as crass and vulgar criminals.

This, in turn, was further expressed across the political landscape. Through telling historical footage and insightful interviews with scholars, journalists and political players, the film runs down the most consequential culprits: Nixon's war on crime, Reagan's war on drugs, Clinton's sweeping crime bill. Each of these movements worked to squelch black liberation while boosting the prison-industrial complex.

The economics of mass incarceration is another dynamic explored in the film. DuVernay is not shy about singling out the corporations who seek maximum profits from the incarceration of human beings. It is in the interests of their shareholders to keep a steady influx of bodies ushered into their prison compounds. These bodies are overwhelmingly African American. Whether the imprisonment is justified by a minor drug offense or from the country's catastrophic immigration laws, the outcome lines the pockets of the greedy elite while decimating entire generations of families. The scourge of prison overcrowding shows little signs of waning as long as it’s being monetized to such an alarming degree.

From The Birth of a Nation to Trayvon Martin, 13th does a commendable job of creating a sense of symmetry from a broad plane of history. It stands as the essential cinematic portrait of this troubling issue.

Directed by: Ava DuVernay

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Linda
Linda
2 years ago

excellent, very educational - I'd give it 8.5 rating if I can work out how. As a New Zealander, I see parallels with the over-policing and over-incarceration of Maori here

Stuart Hogan
Stuart Hogan
3 years ago

Nixon never mentioned the USA's criminality in Vietnam, murdering millions of innocents. This country is a festering cesspool of terrorism which it exports around the world.

X
X
3 years ago

["Therefore de-register as a citizen & claim your nationality. Nationalise your name."]

Geo
Geo
3 years ago

Marxism(Socialism-Communism) the mindset of the New World Order Globalists, are growing more criminals by the day, via their take over of the education system and major media decades ago. When you allow your children to be traumatized via emotion in school regarding claimed injustices, many which are false; all of which have nothing to do with learning to read, to write, and to do math; it is going to equate to more criminals.

People are in a constant state of being emotionally jacked up, via school and/or the media. The Fascist group Antifa and the Racist group Black Lives Matter, are just two examples. Their are many individuals who may snap under emotional pressure ...and justify to themselves some crime.

All by design of course. The Powers That Be, would like to incarcerate as many from the usa as possible. Much easier to control when in jail. The problem they have with the USA is just that, control. They cannot enact their Communist New World Order with a bunch of wild Americans doing what THEY want to do ...instead of what these Elitist pukes think best. Unfortunately Americans, are far too susceptible to propaganda, desiring to believe, against mountainous evidence to the contrary, that they refuse to look at, preferring to believe their government is their guardian rather than having been taken over by their enemies.

So now it will be that most every American will be considered a criminal or potential terrorist by the government. And their zombie order following minions will be the cause of great evil upon them.

Eibhlin
Eibhlin
3 years ago

Shaun Attwood is right. The war on drugs is propelling it all. It just a money maker..

Susa
Susa
3 years ago

Prison is a place for those who have done wrong, it is not a vacation spot. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Period.

Swedi
Swedi
4 years ago

I've been watching docu here for years. I don't get the low rating for this one.

Super informative

Dennis D.
Dennis D.
4 years ago

Desmond your an *****,the situation is dire, it's no way we can correct this listening to fools like you, it's known that if you drop a cat from a height it will land on it's feet, hopefully we are at the end of our fall.....

Glenn
Glenn
4 years ago

What is so great about Americans?

Loretta Chardin
Loretta Chardin
4 years ago

Terrific film1 - We should call it "The Criminal Injustice System" Our system has become one of greed, racism, xenophobia, plutocracy, corporate greed. I am ashamed of my country.