13th

"From slave to criminal with one amendment."

2016 1h 40m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

★7.8TMDB · 815

Documentary

Synopsis

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An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

“From slave to criminal with one amendment.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Jelani Cobb
Self
Angela Davis
Self
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Self
Michelle Alexander
Self
Cory Booker
Self - U.S. Senator (D) New Jersey
Marie Gottschalk
Self
Michael Hough
Self
Gina Clayton
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ava DuVernay
Writers: Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ava DuVernay, shot by Kira Kelly. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jason Moran. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Spencer Averick shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Jelani Cobb and Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "From slave to criminal with one amendment.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt5895028 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ava DuVernay directs. Kira Kelly behind the camera. Jason Moran scores. Spencer Averick cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 10 years ago.
2Directed by Ava DuVernay, shot by Kira Kelly. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Jason Moran. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Spencer Averick shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Jelani Cobb and Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "From slave to criminal with one amendment.".
7IMDB entry: tt5895028 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 17 themes, including "prison", "politics", "slavery", "race politics".

The technical file

Cinematography: Kira Kelly
Original score: Jason Moran
Editing: Spencer Averick
Sound: Jeffrey Perkins
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: 13th (2016)

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Ava DuVernay

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-09-17
★ 6/10
With something like one quarter of the world's prison population being incarcerated in the USA, this documentary attempts to break down that fairly startling statistic and analyse just whether history and historical attitudes and prejudices have been instrumental in arriving at this situation. Crossing generations and centuries, the narrative postulates that much of this is down to grievances between ethnicities and to assertions that the white population is and has been using the penal system to unfairly and consistently persecute African Americans as effectively as state-sponsored segregation ever did. In many ways and thanks to a wide variety of archive and contributors it makes a point that is often hard to refute; it also suggests quite forcefully that being Republican or Democrat doesn't neccessarily mean you are any more pro or anti the case being put forward here about the disproportionate application of discriminatory punishment. Is the film balanced? No, not in the least. It has an axe to grind and finds evidence to support the claims it set out to prove in abundance. Does that make it one-sided? Yes, but that doesn't make it wrong - it just makes the case for the Caucasian communities to present their own version of events to explain and respond to the legitimate questions posed here and to ask equally legitimate questions about ingrained anti-white racism too. There are few saints here, just a great many sinners trying to seize the upper hand in a debate that quite often would sooner discuss politics than look at just why people commit crimes. Are most crimes against non-whites committed by whites? Are most against African Americans carried out by people of their own race or by those of another? Statistically, what percentages of the population as an whole are in jail because they killed someone, or raped then, or because they routinely steal cars or peddle drugs that do a similar job a few days down the line more recreationally or addictively? This neither asks nor answers any of these questions, instead striving to ensure the thrust remains about race and not about crime. In any civilised society evolution happens in fits and starts, mistakes are made, blame is dished out and hopefully progress is made - but that can't happen if historical abuses are held like a revolver to heads - just ask Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu. Reconciliation comes with truth, but that truth isn't always what everyone wants to hear. Much is made in the latter stages of this film about President Clinton's "3-strike" rule. Life imprisonment for being a drug mule if you're convicted three times. Excessive? Well perhaps hindsight shows that it may well have been, but if your kid had died of an overdose and it turned out that their supplier had been in and out of jail for a decade, might you not consider their freedom too much of a price to pay? What this showcases effectively is that prison can work for extremely violent individuals - regardless of their shade - but thereafter, as a means of rehabilitation, does it work at all? Doesn't it actually just ensure that inmates arrive to serve sentences and merely hone their skills as established law-breakers amidst a university of felons? Does it take people whose misdemeanours might have been forgiveable and turn them into even more hardened and embittered citizens or might it actually deter them from re-offending? Again, none of that is really gone into as we assess the implications of the American Constitution's 13th Amendment. This is provocative, and it's well worth a look - but it's determination to avoid looking at society in the round as it is today left me feeling a little like I was being lectured to.

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