14 th , the documentary guided by Ava DuVernay that premiered Friday evening as the closing-night movie of the New York City Movie Event , begins with several American presidents taking the oath of office: FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan … each of them swearing to “preserve, secure, and protect the Constitution of the USA.”
We know where this series is headed– it culminates with Donald Trump swearing that oath to end up being the 47 th head of state. After that it quickly cuts to Trump sitting down for an interview with Kristen Welker of NBC News that asks him, “Don’t you require to promote the Constitution of the United States as president?” Trump’s feedback: “I don’t understand. I have to respond by claiming, again, I have dazzling legal representatives that benefit me.” Astonishing.
Trump’s neglect for the Constitution and outright offense of his vow go back to his very first term– as an example, flouting the Foreign Emoluments Clause. In his 2nd term he has brazenly attempted to take an axe to an essential stipulation of the 14 th Amendment that guarantees bequest citizenship. Section 1 reads partially, “All persons birthed or naturalized in the USA, and based on the territory thereof, are people of the United States and of the State wherein they live.” Couldn’t be clearer, right? That critical area of the amendment ratified in 1868 resolved the status of African Americans, who under slavery, obviously, were not considered people.
DuVernay’s compelling docudrama suggests that modifications 13, 14, and 15– passed within five years of the final thought of the Civil Battle– amounted to a “Constitutional reset” that clarified civil liberties for all Americans, consisting of recently freed servants. The filmmaker’s previous documentary, the Oscar-nominated 13 th , taken a look at that succinct change which, in 32 words, officially eliminated enslavement. The brand-new movie, in a sense, is the follow up, going area by area via the much more extensive text of the 14 th Modification.
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The documentary’s general thesis is that the 14 th Amendment prepared for a multiracial democracy (therefore, it’s easy to see why Trump would strike it). Chroniclers, politicians and various other specialists interviewed in the film stress and anxiety Area 1’s equivalent protection stipulation, making the important factor that equality activities in the united state have counted on that clause as their legal justification.
It’s very unlikely the 13 th , 14 th , or 15 th amendments would certainly have passed if the secessionist Southern states had actually not been urged to back them as a problem for readmittance to the Union. As the film discovers, white supremacists in the South squandered little time undermining the 14 th Change– along with the 15 th , which assured voting civil liberties regardless “race, shade, or previous condition of thrall.” They did so via a project of fear that consisted of the lynching of countless African Americans, and by mythologizing the “Lost Reason” dream that cultured antebellum society had actually been a boon to Black and white alike and that secession had actually had to do with maintaining states’ legal rights.
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Area 3 of the 14 th Amendment, as the film takes a look at, dealt with those that had used up arms against the Union, disallowing from political or military office any person that had actually engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” in offense of their vow to safeguard the Constitution. That, the film suggests convincingly, ought to have quickly disqualified Trump from workplace because his advising advocates on January 6 to “fight like hell” to reverse a complimentary and reasonable election.
Not only that, certainly, yet Trump absolved the large bulk of the insurrectionists on his first day back in workplace in 2025 and has actually attempted to develop a compensation fund for them (breaking, the movie suggests, area 4 of the 14 th Change).
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Most Republicans have caved to Trump since he took workplace the first time. 14 th makes area for a pair that refused to fold– previous Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Steve Schmidt, an elderly campaign consultant to Sen. John McCain throughout the latter’s 2008 compete president. Schmidt states it plainly: “We are in among the fantastic moral situations” in U.S. history. The merit of DuVernay’s film is that it reframes our understanding of the significance of the 14 th Amendment and its ethical purchase.
14 th additionally works as a caution– noting that the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump’s exec order that rejected birthright citizenship but not in a consentaneous choice. It was 6 – 3 Partner Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented, with Thomas asserting the amendment only talked with the condition and status of freed servants. The film makes it clear that Trump and his allies won’t give up on negating birthright citizenship– and how could one expect otherwise given Trump’s blithe neglect of the Constitution?
Stylistically, 14 th appears like 13 th — with wonderfully lit interviews, stunning computer animation of still images and dynamic visual aspects. Its most bold thrust is integrating passages of terse comedy sets by comics George Carlin, Paul Mooney, Hasan Minhaj and Neal Brennan (Carlin brilliantly mentions that America was “founded by slaveowners who wanted to be complimentary.” Mooney happily stitches on just how “white folks” were never ever happier than when they had Black people). Inevitably, 14 th is didactic– a history lesson, if you will, however the kind every American ought to experience if they wish to continue living under a type of federal government of individuals, by the people, and for the people.
I don’t predict 14 th enjoying the exact same degree of honors success as DuVernay’s 13 th , which showed how American culture had basically re-created the problems of enslavement with mass imprisonment. That movie had a really human face, as customers came to see exactly how whites stigmatized Black people as inherently suspect, reconstituting forced thrall with other means. The 14 th Amendment is much more abstract and hence less likely to stir psychological responses.
The film functions as a fitting call to activity reminding those that rely on a multiracial and multi-faith freedom that “we are all creators and framers” of the Constitution. For that, DuVernay deserves the highest possible appreciation.
Title: 14 th
Festival: New York City Film Event
Representative: Netflix
Release date: December 4, 2026
Supervisor: Ava DuVernay
Cast: Stacey Abrams, Eric Foner, Sherrilyn Ifill, Jeff Flake, Steve Schmidt, Hasan Piker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jelani Cobb, Lonnie Number, David Affliction, Robert S. Chang, Amanda Frost, Dean Withers, Carla Hayden, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL), Donald T. Critchlow
Running time: 1 human resources 40 minutes
