--- title: Ava DuVernay's Netflix Documentary 13th: Review description: Even if you think you know everything about the 13th Amendment, or about mass incarceration, Ava DuVernay’s 13th will make your jaw drop canonical: https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/ author: Stephanie Zacharek article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-13T11:28:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:38:21.689Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: '13th: An Amendment With an Identity Crisis og:description: Something in the succinct, passionate documentary will make your jaw drop og:url: https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8d08d6ffde3aa2d/6988a9a90a4a2265969cb9c1/ava-duvernay-13th-netflix-documentary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3236 og:image:height: 1820 og:image:alt: Ava Duvernay og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: '13th: An Amendment With an Identity Crisis twitter:description: Something in the succinct, passionate documentary will make your jaw drop twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8d08d6ffde3aa2d/6988a9a90a4a2265969cb9c1/ava-duvernay-13th-netflix-documentary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _13th_ : An Amendment With an Identity Crisis > Sponsored content. 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Something in the succinct, passionate documentary will make your jaw drop_  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Oct 13, 2016 11:28 AM UTC  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Oct 13, 2016 11:28 AM UTC Even if you think you know everything about the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery–or about the criminal-justice system–there will be something in [Ava DuVernay](http://time.com/3965845/ava-duvernay-black-panther/)‘s succinct, passionate documentary _13th_ to make your jaw drop. Although the amendment guarantees freedom for all citizens “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” its meaning has been willfully distorted: [mass incarceration](http://time.com/4080885/police-law-incarceration-criminal-justice-crime/), unreasonable drug laws and police brutality have become [Jim Crow](http://time.com/4196840/mary-church-terrell/)–like means to control the lives of people of color. The chances that a white man will go to prison at some point in his life are 1 in 17\. For black men, that statistic is 1 in 3, according to the film. DuVernay has assembled a persuasive group of experts–including Angela Davis and [Henry Louis Gates Jr.](http://time.com/4143877/history-student-activism/)–to expand on, and illuminate, the distressing facts. _13th_–currently available on Netflix–is dense with information, and it moves fast. But it’s also a story told in images, and the ones DuVernay has chosen ring not just with sadness and horror but also cautious optimism. If it’s wrenching to see the face of [Emmett Till](http://time.com/4504577/emmett-till-impact/) in his casket, swollen and defiled, there’s joy in the photographs that accompany the closing credits, images of black family life in America from the late 19th century to today, as it ought to be and sometimes has been. This could be the future of America, if we treat it not as an elusive dream but as an achievable reality. –S.Z. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/"},"headline":"13th : An Amendment With an Identity Crisis","datePublished":"2016-10-13T11:28:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:38:21.689Z","description":"Something in the succinct, passionate documentary will make your jaw drop","url":"https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8d08d6ffde3aa2d/6988a9a90a4a2265969cb9c1/ava-duvernay-13th-netflix-documentary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8d08d6ffde3aa2d/6988a9a90a4a2265969cb9c1/ava-duvernay-13th-netflix-documentary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ava Duvernay","caption":"Ava Duvernay","creditText":"Vince Talotta—Toronto Star/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/","name":"13th : An Amendment With an Identity Crisis"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Something in the succinct, passionate documentary will make your jaw drop","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4529440/13th-an-amendment-with-an-identity-crisis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```