52 FILMS BY WOMEN: #11.
13 (2016) U.S.A.
– Ava DuVernay
We just want to “Make America Great Again” = $$ profit.
Ava DuVernay and her team have done a phenomenal job highlighting the bias and corporate greed entrenched in America’s justice system. The experts she interviews, from both sides of the political aisle, explore racism, greed, and corruption—from slavery to mass incarceration—as they’ve shaped our communities. Systemic racism doesn’t simply disappear; it evolves. It’s repackaged, first by the government (Jim Crow laws), and then by private corporations (through groups like ALEC—American Legislative Exchange Council) and the expansion of for-profit prison systems. In the end, it’s not just about the marginalization of minorities, but about building a structure that keeps vast numbers of people imprisoned, exploiting them as a labor force.
You’ll never see this on your denim jeans…
Our products are “Made in America” (by wrongfully imprisoned inmates?!?!).
The star interviewees drive home the core issues within these systems. Commentary comes from political activists and educators like Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates, as well as staunch Republican Newt Gingrich—each offering smart, insightful perspectives on a system failing its citizens. There are also haunting reminders of innocent lives shattered by this system, like Kalief Browder, a 22-year-old Black man who took his life in June 2015 after being imprisoned for three years at Rikers Island without trial. Or Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager shot and killed by George Zimmerman, shielded by Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.
At the heart of this powerful documentary is a reflective look at slavery, its attempted abolishment, and where we stand as a nation today.
Have we truly found common ground?
Or does divisive rhetoric and sentiment still bubble beneath the surface of this country?
Moreover, when will we begin to see our justice system as the new “Master,” and where are the checks and balances on their commodification of labor?
13th Amendment.
“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, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
