On November 3, U.S. voters will cast ballots in midterm elections that will go a long way toward shaping or reshaping our government. The results will offer a pivotal snapshot of how the country is currently viewing the solvency of our particular brand of democracy.

Ava DuVernay‘s new documentary for Netflix focuses on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, recent attempts to strip the 14th Amendment of its power, and the ways in which the 14th Amendment embodies and represents the ideals and long-term viability of the American experiment.

Naturally, Netflix has set 14th for a brief theatrical run on November 27 ahead of a streaming premiere on December 4th. A sequel or companion to DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated 13th, the doc is a cogent, urgent clarion call, and Netflix is sending it straight to the scheduling equivalent of voicemail.

I’m baffled, but I guess it isn’t my job to review programming choices or corporate politics. Like its predecessor — I briefly was outraged recalling that 13th lost the Oscar, until I was reminded that OJ: Made in America won — 14th is powered by well-earned rage; also like its predecessor, it’s more a history lesson and a model of carefully composed rhetoric than a screed.

As anybody who studied Constitutional amendments in school — and why isn’t that everybody? — knows, there are plenty of amendments that can be summed up in a catchy phrase: “Alcohol? No!” “Actually, alcohol? Sure!” “Vote at 18!” “Vote if you’re a woman!” “Cruel and unusual punishment, like when a state is unable to correctly administer the death penalty (or, actually, the death penalty itself)? No!” Etc., etc.

DuVernay’s last documentary focused on the supposed simplicity of the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, except in cases where the prison industrial complex is involved. It’s a simple amendment, but the hypocrisy around its implementation remains complicated.

The 14th Amendment is not one of the simple ones.

As Stacey Abrams, part of a wide-ranging group of talking heads here, puts it, the 14th Amendment is the “everything bagel” of constitutional amendments.

As Dr. Eric Foner puts it, the 14th Amendment is the most important since the Bill of Rights.

As Dr. Sherrilyn Ifill explains in some depth, the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments reflect a grand reimagining of the American experiment in the aftermath of the Civil War — almost a second Constitution.

The amendment offers a new definition for citizenship, one built on equality, particularly in issues of due process and equal protection under the law. It’s the foundation for Supreme Court decisions allowing for interracial and gay marriage, the origin of birthright citizenship, and the reason why paying off the January 6th insurrectionists is blatantly unconstitutional.

It is, in modern TV and movie terms, a constitutional reboot, and like so many reboots, it has sparked debate about what is and isn’t canonical to the intention of its framers — both the original constitutional framers and the framers of these bridge amendments, including John Bingham, Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. Note that the documentary promises to remove the obscurity around this second group of framers and, unfortunately, it doesn’t come close.

DuVernay and her various talking heads establish quickly why the 14th Amendment is so essential, and then go into depth on the attempts to erase the amendment’s protections over the years, with a particular focus on the decades of efforts to erase the immediate gains of Reconstruction. Some of that will be familiar to regular viewers of documentary and comedy/news programs, especially when it comes to the evisceration of the Daughters of the Confederacy, the perpetuation of the Lost Cause myth, and the erection of countless monuments to the various slaveholders and insurrectionists who fought for the South. I attended a Jefferson Davis Elementary School in my youth — since renamed for Barack Obama — so much of this hit hard and close to home.

In addition to the usual historians, constitutional scholars, populist commentators and politicians — including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, Alex Padilla and dedicated regurgitator of MAGA talking points Anna Paulina Luna — DuVernay weaves in ground-level vignettes. We spend time with the likes of Devon Henry, the contractor tasked with removing Richmond’s Confederate monuments, and Dr. Carla Hayden, fired as the Librarian of Congress for poorly articulated reasons related to the current administration’s war on DEI.

The documentary is fairly straightforward, but never visually dull. DuVernay stages her interviews in a diverse assortment of settings, moving the camera in a way that’s kinetic but never nauseating. There’s a frequently utilized effect that brings to life vintage black-and-white photos, which comes across as an extension of Ken Burns’ beloved technique with a computer-effects twist that I don’t fully understand, but it keeps things lively. The argument DuVernay builds is deftly constructed within the 108 minutes of the documentary, escalating from past to present to future and from dryly historical to emotional and visceral.

Spencer Averick’s editing and the score by Jason Moran retain a high intensity throughout, evoking a heist movie in which the main antagonists are out to steal your rights. Which is apt, I guess.

The documentary generates anger, sadness and even, by showcasing clips from the likes of George Carlin and Hasan Minhaj, humor. More than that, though, 14th made me wish for two things: First, that DuVernay continue her amendment-by-amendment documentary series until we eventually get her exposé on the timetable of Congressional salary increases. Second, that given the effort DuVernay puts into these films, it would be nice if they were released at the time when they could most successfully stir people to action.

Craig Zobel, a director known for his work on such prestige series as Mare of Easttown and The Penguin, is set to direct a feature adaptation of Something Is Killing the Children, the popular comic book series from James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera, with Jason Blum and his Blumhouse among the producers.

Stephen Christy and Tynion IV will produce the film for BOOM! Studios/Penguin Random House, alongside Blum for Blumhouse. Shaun Sutton and Ryan Turek will exec produce alongside Adam Yoelin and Mette Norkjaer, with Dell’Edera acting as co-producer.

The news came out of New York Comic-Con, where Blumhouse laid out its 2027 slate.

First published by BOOM! Studios, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in 2019, Something is Killing the Children centers on Erica Slaughter, a monster hunter who arrives in the small town of Archer’s Peak after children begin disappearing to take down the creature preying on them. It’s the most successful original horror comic book since The Walking Dead, with more than 5 million copies sold worldwide, having been translated into more than 20 languages in 14 countries.

While developing the live-action feature, Blumhouse is simultaneously developing an adult animated series version of Something Is Killing the Children to be shepherded by Tynion IV.

A DGA Award nominee and three-time Emmy nominee, Zobel broke out with indies like Compliance and Z for Zachariah before going on to work on shows such as The Leftovers, American Gods, Westworld, Mare of Easttown and The Penguin. He also helmed the satirical horror film The Hunt and just wrapped production on Turpentine, a new thriller starring Melissa McCarthy and Connie Storrie. He is repped by CAA, SSM&L, Entertainment 360 and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

Blumhouse–Atomic Monster is in theaters this weekend with Rob Savage’s Universal horror Other Mommy, based on the novel Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman. Their slate for next year includes the Joshua Giuliano buzz title River, Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist: Martyrs, Anything but Ghosts from Obsession‘s Curry Barker, a new Paranormal Activity, the Savage-helmed Mole People, a new Blair Witch Project from Dylan Clark, Sleepover from director Jacob Chase, and Drew Hancock’s Seasons.

14^th, the documentary directed by Ava DuVernay that premiered Friday night as the closing-night film of the New York Film Festival, begins with several American presidents taking the oath of office: FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan… each of them swearing to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

We know where this sequence is headed – it culminates with Donald Trump swearing that oath to become the 47^th president. Then it immediately cuts to Trump sitting down for an interview with Kristen Welker of NBC News who asks him, “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Trump’s response: “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me.” Astonishing.

Trump’s disregard for the Constitution and blatant violation of his oath go back to his first term – 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 14^th Amendment that guarantees birthright citizenship. Section 1 reads in part, “All 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.” Couldn’t 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.

DuVernay’s compelling documentary argues that amendments 13, 14, and 15 – passed within five years of the conclusion of the Civil War — amounted to a “Constitutional reset” that clarified rights for all Americans, including newly freed slaves. The filmmaker’s previous documentary, the Oscar-nominated 13^th, 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 14^th Amendment.

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

It’s highly unlikely the 13^th, 14^th, or 15^th 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 14^th Amendment – as well as the 15^th, which guaranteed voting rights without regard to “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” They did so through a campaign of terror that included the lynching of thousands of African Americans, and by mythologizing the “Lost Cause” fantasy that genteel antebellum society had been a boon to Black and white alike and that secession had been about preserving states’ rights.

Section 3 of the 14^th 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 “insurrection or rebellion” 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 “fight like hell” to overturn a free and fair election.

Not 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 14^th Amendment).

Most Republicans have caved to Trump since he took office the first time. 14^th makes space for a couple who refused to fold – former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Steve Schmidt, a senior campaign adviser to Sen. John McCain during the latter’s 2008 run for president. Schmidt states it clearly: “We are in one of the great moral crises” in U.S. history. The virtue of DuVernay’s film is that it reframes our understanding of the importance of the 14^th Amendment and its moral purchase.

14^th also serves as a warning – noting that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump’s 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’t give up on negating birthright citizenship – and how could one expect otherwise given Trump’s blithe disregard of the Constitution?

Stylistically, 14^th resembles 13^th – 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 “founded by slaveowners who wanted to be free.” Mooney hilariously embroiders on how “white folks” were never happier than when they owned Black people). Inevitably, 14^th is didactic – 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.

I don’t foresee 14^th enjoying the same level of awards success as DuVernay’s 13^th, 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 14^th Amendment is far more abstract and thus less likely to stir emotional reactions.

The film serves as a fitting call to action reminding those who believe in a multiracial and multi-faith democracy that “we are all founders and framers” of the Constitution. For that, DuVernay deserves the highest praise.

Title: 14^th
Festival: New York Film Festival
Distributor: Netflix
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
Running time: 1 hr 40 mins