It’s almost impossible to sit through Ava DuVernay’s 13TH without wanting to set the world on fire. Her chronicle of the way in which African American males have been criminalized, and are in fact still under the constant threat of legal slavery in America, will undoubtedly be called a “wake up call”, but more than that it’s a slap, an angry yell that couldn’t have arrived at a more essential moment. Thoroughly researched, and expertly crafted, the film focuses on the title amendment ratified in 1865 which establishes that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. DuVernay reveals that for better part of the twentieth century, and well into this one, the system has made sure to exploit that “except as a punishment for crime” loophole, to the point that at least one of every three black men will face jail time at some point in their lives.

If the statistics presented throughout the documentary weren’t shocking enough (there is an especially powerful counter that shows how prison populations have grown almost ten times their size since the 1970s), they are paired with testimony from people who know precisely what they’re talking about, the most effective of all being the iconic Angela Davis, who hasn’t appeared much in the public eye since the days when, thanks to Reagan and Nixon, she became a demonized figure meant to encompass everything white people were supposed to fear African Americans for. It’s during the Nixon/Reagan terms, and their faux focus on ending criminal activity and putting a stop to drugs, that the simple fact of being black became a crime.

But the film is too complex to blame Republicans for everything that went wrong, figures like Bill Clinton don’t come unscathed either, as the film reveals how his 1994 Federal Crime Bill, only helped militarize the same police force that in 2016 kills black men and goes off unpunished. 13TH however doesn’t attempt to become just a call to indignation, DuVernay shows that facing the past, and trying to rectify it isn’t without its merits. We see former President Clinton openly acknowledge how disastrous the consequences of his bill was, and even serving as an example for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

With reason, DuVernay shows Donald Trump’s vile rhetoric as a perpetuation of the vilifying of black males that comes from before Jim Crow, the film shows how D.W. Griffiths’ The Birth of a Nation, aided in the propagation of the idea that black men were downright savage and should be contained. While not endorsing either candidate, in as many words, 13TH gives us two options: the path of irrational hatred and intolerance, or the path of recognizing the humanity in others and working for a better future. Rarely has a film felt as necessary and urgent as this one.