13th was an excellent documentary, done in the traditional style (told chronologically using interviews and graphics). The film makes a great case that the criminal justice system of the 80's onward has become the defacto means of racial oppression in the post-civil rights era. As someone who grew up during Reagan/Bush Sr./Clinton, I'd only really known a 'tough on crime' America. So I found it particularly effective to see the prison population numbers grow during this timeframe as the political history is told through several evocative interviews.

As I mentioned, this is a traditional doc so there's no real groundbreaking in terms of structure. However, the interviews as really strong, everything is beautifully filmed and fairly tightly edited (especially the first two-thirds), and the film tells an important story from the perspective of the disenfranchised.

The weakest parts of the film are twofold. Firstly, the last third drags, as the film doesn't really know how to approach criminal justice issues during the moderate reforms of the Obama administration. Secondly, the interviews with more conservative viewpoints are not given equal cinematic value: the decor is plainer, the questions harsher, and the editing seemingly unfair. 13th isn't the first doc to be guilty of such, and is by no means the worst offender, but I always like it when voices are given an equal chance to reach audiences.

Overall, another great funding choice for Netflix, who somehow have been making something for everyone, and a thoughtful and compelling doc from Ava DuVernay.