Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

13th is Ava Duvernay's follow-up to Selma & what a thought provoking indictment of the American penal system it is. Like a permanent lump in the throat, this visual thesis posits continuing slavery in the US, even though it's not referred to in name, as our prison system continues to have its fill w/people of color. We have the usual barrage of talking heads, historical footage & factoids sprawled across the screen but the urgency of the message & recent history lend considerable credence to this doc's claims.

This documentary is well-made even though it made me really angry and sad. Not that I didn't know how things are handled in America. I've been enough to that country to know how people think and are over there. Not that everybody is the same, far from that, but besides the beautiful country it is for nature, the uglier it is for their white patriotism and racism against everything that is not white as them. The negative reviews this documentary gets are for 100% sure coming from those same white patriots, or the richer republican bourgeoisie, people with no feelings about real life. I've traveled a lot in my life and I never been in a country with more patriotic flags attached to their house. Patriots that think they know it all and need to teach the rest of the world how you should live. Well they couldn't be more wrong about the standards and morals of life. America, land of the free, it's just the most absurd thing to say. Free for the rich yes, but the rest are seen as pariah. If you are rich and guilty of a crime you get away with in America, but if you are innocent and poor your chances are as good as non-existant to be judge a free man. I'm married to an American, and she's my true love, but I will be damned if I ever set foot again in that biased country. That people vote for a racist sexist like Trump says enough about that country. You can think of me what you want, I couldn't care less, I live in the real land of the free, where all people are equal. It doesn't matter what color they are. Justice is here the same for everybody. This documentary should be mandatory in every school and household in America, maybe then people will open their eyes. Even though the vast majority of the patriots will never change their redneck mind.

DuVernay's documentary does an extremely good job of drawing a line from slavery to Jim Crow to the mass incarceration of black men in America, tying incarceration to the rider in the 13th Amendment that allows the enslavement of those convicted of a crime. The War on Drugs started by the Nixon administration (DuVernay includes an incredible quote from John Erlichman admitting that the "War on Drugs" was a ploy to persecute anti-war protesters and African Americans) is shown to have been a tool to exploit the public's fear of black men and push agendas to get people elected and to allow corporations to profit from the prison system. A superb documentary that perhaps attempts to make few tenuous connections here or there, but is generally spot on ... and amazingly infuriating as a result.

This documentary is one (very small) side to the story, but the other side is that statistics don't lie. I know a lot of black people blame the whites for all their problems and not take responsibility for their actions but they need to wake up. Educate yourself. Why are so many in jail? Trust me, not even .01% is because of racial injustice. Does prejudice exist? Sure. On BOTH sides.So why blame the whites? They did not put that gun in your hand, or make you smoke that drug, or make you not study in school, etc.. I do believe a lot has to do with the parents and the way people are raised but that is another topic for another time.So start being an upstanding member of society, and I guarantee you, people will start treating you that way. ALL LIVES MATTER.