{"id":797721,"date":"2026-10-10T04:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797721\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T04:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T04:18:13","slug":"14th-review-ava-duvernay-defends-vital-constitutional-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797721\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201814th\u2019 Review: Ava DuVernay Defends Vital Constitutional Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t14th, the documentary directed by Ava DuVernay<\/a> that premiered Friday night as the closing-night film of the New York Film Festival<\/a>, begins with several American presidents taking the oath of office: FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan\u2026 each of them swearing to \u201cpreserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWe know where this sequence is headed \u2013 it culminates with Donald Trump swearing that oath to become the 47th president. Then it immediately cuts to Trump sitting down for an interview with Kristen Welker of NBC News who asks him, \u201cDon\u2019t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?\u201d Trump\u2019s response: \u201cI don\u2019t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me.\u201d Astonishing.<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump\u2019s disregard for the Constitution and blatant violation of his oath go back to his first term \u2013 for example, flouting the Foreign Emoluments Clause. In his second term he has brazenly attempted to take an axe to a key provision of the 14th Amendment that guarantees birthright citizenship. Section 1 reads in part, \u201cAll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.\u201d Couldn\u2019t be clearer, right? That critical section of the amendment ratified in 1868 resolved the status of African Americans, who under slavery, of course, were not deemed citizens.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuVernay\u2019s compelling documentary argues that amendments 13, 14, and 15 \u2013 passed within five years of the conclusion of the Civil War \u2014 amounted to a \u201cConstitutional reset\u201d that clarified rights for all Americans, including newly freed slaves. The filmmaker\u2019s previous documentary, the Oscar-nominated 13th, examined that concise amendment which, in 32 words, formally abolished slavery. The new film, in a sense, is the sequel, going section by section through the far more expansive text of the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tL-R: Director Ava DuVernay with Stacey Abrams, former member of the Georgia House of Representatives<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Postas\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tThe documentary\u2019s overall thesis is that the 14th Amendment laid the groundwork for a multiracial democracy (for that reason, it\u2019s easy to see why Trump would attack it). Historians, political leaders and other experts interviewed in the film stress Section 1\u2019s equal protection clause, making the vital point that equality movements in the U.S. have relied on that clause as their legal justification.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s highly unlikely the 13th, 14th, or 15th amendments would have passed if the secessionist Southern states had not been compelled to endorse them as a condition for readmittance to the Union. As the film explores, white supremacists in the South wasted little time undermining the 14th Amendment \u2013 as well as the 15th, which guaranteed voting rights without regard to \u201crace, color, or previous condition of servitude.\u201d They did so through a campaign of terror that included the lynching of thousands of African Americans, and by mythologizing the \u201cLost Cause\u201d fantasy that genteel antebellum society had been a boon to Black and white alike and that secession had been about preserving states\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Trump<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTrump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWin McNamee\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tSection 3 of the 14th Amendment, as the film examines, addressed those who had taken up arms against the Union, barring from political or military office any person who had engaged in \u201cinsurrection or rebellion\u201d in violation of their oath to defend the Constitution. That, the film argues convincingly, should have immediately disqualified Trump from office in view of his urging supporters on January 6 to \u201cfight like hell\u201d to overturn a free and fair election.<\/p>\n

\n\tNot only that, of course, but Trump pardoned the vast majority of the insurrectionists on his first day back in office in 2025 and has attempted to create a compensation fund for them (violating, the film suggests, section 4 of the 14th Amendment).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ambassador<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAmbassador and former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake in \u201814th<\/a>\u2018<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNetflix<\/p>\n

\n\tMost Republicans have caved to Trump since he took office the first time. 14th makes space for a couple who refused to fold \u2013 former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Steve Schmidt, a senior campaign adviser to Sen. John McCain during the latter\u2019s 2008 run for president. Schmidt states it clearly: \u201cWe are in one of the great moral crises\u201d in U.S. history. The virtue of DuVernay\u2019s film is that it reframes our understanding of the importance of the 14th Amendment and its moral purchase.<\/p>\n

\n\t14th also serves as a warning \u2013 noting that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump\u2019s executive order that denied birthright citizenship but not in a unanimous decision. It was 6-3. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented, with Thomas claiming the amendment only spoke to the condition and status of freed slaves. The film makes it clear that Trump and his allies won\u2019t give up on negating birthright citizenship \u2013 and how could one expect otherwise given Trump\u2019s blithe disregard of the Constitution?<\/p>\n

\n\tStylistically, 14th resembles 13th \u2013 with beautifully lit interviews, stunning animation of still photos and dynamic graphical elements. Its most daring thrust is incorporating excerpts of incisive comedy sets by comics George Carlin, Paul Mooney, Hasan Minhaj and Neal Brennan (Carlin brilliantly points out that America was \u201cfounded by slaveowners who wanted to be free.\u201d Mooney hilariously embroiders on how \u201cwhite folks\u201d were never happier than when they owned Black people). Inevitably, 14th is didactic \u2013 a history lesson, if you will, but the kind every American should experience if they want to continue living under a form of government of the people, by the people, and for the people.<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t foresee 14th enjoying the same level of awards success as DuVernay\u2019s 13th, which showed how American society had essentially re-created the conditions of slavery through mass incarceration. That film had a very human face, as viewers came to see how whites stigmatized Black people as inherently suspect, reconstituting forced servitude through other means. The 14th Amendment is far more abstract and thus less likely to stir emotional reactions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film serves as a fitting call to action reminding those who believe in a multiracial and multi-faith democracy that \u201cwe are all founders and framers\u201d of the Constitution. For that, DuVernay deserves the highest praise.<\/p>\n

\n\tTitle: 14th
Festival: New York Film Festival
Distributor: Netflix<\/a>
Release date: December 4, 2026
Director: Ava DuVernay
Cast: Stacey Abrams, Eric Foner, Sherrilyn Ifill, Jeff Flake, Steve Schmidt, Hasan Piker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jelani Cobb, Lonnie Bunch, David Blight, Robert S. Chang, Amanda Frost, Dean Withers, Carla Hayden, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL), Donald T. Critchlow
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