Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

13th
2016
****
Director: Ava DuVernay
Cast:

The thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime. Ava DuVernay's scathing documentary argues that slavery exists to this day, only in different form. Richard Nixon's War on Drugs, Ronald Reagan's crusade against crack cocaine, and Bill Clinton's three-strikes laws resulted in a massive increase in prison population, 60 % of whom are people of colour. These days, every third black man can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Although DuVernay's film is persuasive and moving, its central hypothesis was first presented in the superior The House I Live in (2012).