Must Watch: 13th

BY: Matt Elisofon

Whether it is applied to the greatest piece of television or not, the term “must watch” is seldom appropriate. But thanks to the ability of Ava DuVernay (Selma) to stare—without flinching or turning away—directly into the abyss of our country’s racist past, 13^th achieves the rarefied status of being a bona fide “must watch.”

Using the emancipating 13^th Amendment as its jumping-off point, DuVernay draws a straight line from a pesky little 150-year-old clause, which nullifies the anti-slavery law if you are convicted of a crime, to the prison-industrial complex of today. In short, the amendment intended to free black people in America has only enslaved them further.

Unlike most of the programs found on Netflix—the business end of the “Netflix and Chill” revolution—13^th is a painful experience. But like all exploratory surgeries, cuts, no matter how deep or unpleasant, are always necessary when searching for the root of a disease. In the midst of a heated presidential election and racially charged protests surrounding the very problems 13^th hopes to diagnose, we can only hope that DuVernay’s incisive and thoroughly provocative work isn’t too late.