October 12, 2016 The Skanner Page 7
By Dwight Brown
NNPA Newswire Film Critic
T
he New York Film Festival cel-
ebrated its 54th year by trying
something new. For the irst time
in history, its Opening Night
World Premiere was a documentary.
Even more noteworthy, this non-iction
ilm is by director Ava DuVernay (Sel-
ma) and it focuses on America’s deep
problem with its criminal justice/pe-
nal system and how it afects the Black
“
tion.
With photos, archival footage and in-
terviews, she presents something akin
to a condensed post-graduate course
that delivers facts, igures, history, par-
allels, anecdotes, observations and con-
troversial incidents that corroborate
her thesis. What’s on view is an equal
dose of academic study, solid journal-
ism and deep emotion that will provoke
anger, sadness and hopefully motiva-
tion for change.
DuVernay’s mission is aided by schol-
‘We are a nation that professes freedom yet
have this hyper-incarceration system that is
grinding into it our most vulnerable citizenry
— and is overwhelming biased towards people
of color’
— Senator Cory Booker
community. Screening DuVernay’s
powerful documentary “The 13th,”
helped NYFF make a social/political
and cultural statement that may reso-
nate for years.
Normally, analyzing racism, inequal-
ity, involuntary servitude, prison sys-
tems and police brutality is such a vast
endeavor it would take a collection of
books, a string of college courses or a
PBS miniseries to begin to understand
such complex subjects and their many
ramiications. In one hour and 40 min-
utes, DuVernay masterfully takes on
that arduous task, shares some illumi-
nating analysis and starts a conversa-
ars (Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr.), po-
litical commentators (Van Jones), un-
likely sympathizers (Newt Gingrich),
iconic activists (Angela Davis) and
politicians. United States Senator Cory
Booker said, “We are a nation that pro-
fesses freedom yet have this hyper-in-
carceration system that is grinding
into it our most vulnerable citizenry
— and is overwhelming biased towards
people of color.”
DuVernay connects the dots from
the liberation of slaves by the 13th
Amendment signed on Jan. 31, 1865, to
the convict leasing that followed, then
the Jim Crow system of apartheid, the
PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Arts & Entertainment
FILM REVIEW: Ava DuVernay Tackles Mass Incarceration and more in ‘The 13th’
Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow,” talks about the efects of mass incarceration in “The
13th.”
FBI’s war against Black activism and
today’s rampant incarceration of poor,
Black men. Over 100 years of systemic
oppression, dehumanization and what
Jelani Cobb, the director of the Institute
for African-American Studies, calls “a
mythology of Black criminality.”
Some of what she points out has been
said before, and she is reinforcing it.
However, lots of the information she’s
bringing to light will be alarming news
to most viewers i.e., did you know that
the American Legislative Exchange
Council (ALEC), a nonproit organiza-
tion of conservative state legislators
and private sector representatives,
drats and shares model state-level leg-
islation that legally lets businesses take
advantage of free labor by prisoners?
The ilm is a revelation on so many
levels. When it ends, the feeling of an-
ger and sorrow is almost overwhelm-
ing. There’s also a nagging feeling that
you wish you had step-by-step instruc-
tions on how to help break the cycle
and make a change. Even, just as a coda,
a list of some actionable steps would
empower viewers. It would have been
helpful, if the ilm had mentioned the
importance of voting, community ac-
tivism, joining police departments to
make change from within, gun control
or even decriminalizing drugs. Prob-
lems, like the ones depicted in this very
observant ilm, only get solved when
someone takes a irst step.
Angelou cont’d from pg 6
the classics ranging from
Shakespeare to Langston
Hughes to Edgar Allan
Poe.
Unfortunately,
ex-
posure to great litera-
ture didn’t save Maya
from further trauma,
as she would become a
single-mom at 17 ater
being pressured into a
sexual encounter with a
boy who wanted nothing
more to do with her. She
subsequently supported
herself and her son, Guy,
by holding an array of
odd jobs, including work
in the sex trade industry
as a stripper, prostitute
and even a madam.
Yet somehow, Maya
would overcome her
humble roots and check-
ered early career to be-
come an African Amer-
ican icon and respected
writer. That miraculous
recovery is the subject
of “Maya Angelou: And
Still I Rise,” a reverential
retrospective ofering an
intimate look at the life
of the late poet/author/
actress/director/civil
rights activist.
Co-directed by Bob Her-
cules and Rita Coburn
Whack, the ilm features
heartfelt relections by
an array of luminaries,
including Bill and Hil-
lary Clinton, Oprah Win-
frey, John Singleton, Cice-
ly Tyson, Dave Chappelle
and Valerie Simpson, to
name a few. For example,
we hear Secretary Clin-
ton refer to her as “a phe-
nomenal woman” while
Lou Gossett, Jr. credits
her with raising his polit-
ical consciousness.
A poignant portrait of a
survivor’s unlikely path
from abandoned street
urchin to consummate
poet laureate!
Excellent HHHH
Unrated
Running time: 114 min.
Distributor: American
Masters Pictures
View the trailer at
TheSkanner.com
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