14th ¦ Film Review (3*): Trump’s Attack on the Constitution Under the Spotlight.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “14th”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 3*, NR).

As a UK citizen, this new Netflix documentary from Ava Duvernay, 14th, is not really aimed at me. But as someone who has looked on in horror as the once great and respected nation of the USA that has been sullied by an out-of-control lunatic, I did still find interest in the piece.

It seems to me that Americans tend to get fixated on the articles of their Constitution…. mostly the 1st (Freedom of Speech) and the 2nd (Right to Bear Arms). It is worth noting that is still illegal in the UK to carry a plank of wood in the street (section 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839, still in force today), but I don’t see anyone making a documentary on the pros and cons of that particular law any time soon!

One Mann’s Movies Rating:

Plot:

The LFF description: “Ten years after her Emmy Award-winning 13th, Ava DuVernay returns to the US Constitution with a probing look at the thorny history of the 14th amendment. This amendment, adopted three years after the American Civil War, gives citizenship and equal civil rights to all. The documentary explores how the current US administration has systemically sought to revoke these rights. Assembling a range of political, academic and topical interviewees, 14th is a fascinating, revealing and essential investigation into the complexities of US – and global – history and politics.”

Certification:

UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 12 based on the themes of slavery and racism depicted, but I can’t recall any significant bad language and the news footage of rioting shows mostly minor levels of violence.)

Talent:

Directed by: Ava DuVernay.

Running Time: 1h 47m.

Review:

Positives:

• The film starts strongly by showing different US Presidents – Roosevelt and then JFK – swearing on the bible those famous lines:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

• We then, of course, see Trump swearing those same words before a jaw-dropping statement in a later TV interview which really beggars belief. He is asked “Do you uphold the constitution?” and replies “I DON’T KNOW! I have great lawyers who work for me”.
• Duvernay then gives us a history lesson about the 13th, 14th and 15th and the men behind the drafting of them. This was not by the well-known names in American history, who contributed to the original constitution and the ‘Bill of Rights’ – 17 proposed amendments introduced by James Madison on June 8, 1789, which was whittled down to Amendments 1 to 10 and ratified in 1791. No, these were part of the later Amendments 11 to 27 that were ratified progressively after the end of the US Civil War in August 1966. The Thirteenth Amendment permanently outlawed slavery, freeing roughly four million enslaved Black people; The Fifteenth Amendment gave every US citizen the right to vote, regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”. But it was the Fourteenth Amendment that had the most teeth: 5 sections that gave the following rights:
  1. The rights of citizenship by birth for anyone born in the US;
  2. A stick to beat unruly states with, by pro-rata reducing Congress representation, if they didn’t behave regarding the new freedoms;
  3. No person can be appointed to an elected post (including President) they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
  4. That it is illegal to “pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States”.
  5. That Congress can enforce all of this by law.
• We then drive into detail on all 5 of these points (pulling the ‘daisy’ leaves off a flower of the 14th amendment as sort of chapter markers). There is lots of interesting stuff in here, including the destruction of Civil War and anti-slavery monuments across the southern states: a total of 2,629 of them! Some of these are HUGE: a shot of the Stone Mountain monument is awe-dropping, on a Mount Rushmore sort of scale. There is a section about the banning and altering of childrens’ text-books by the “United Daughters of the Federacy” to drive pro-Confederacy messaging, feeding in White Supremacy propaganda. And, of course, there are tragic events too: the rise of the KKK (there were “over 4,400 lynchings between 1873 and World War 2”), and more recently, a massacre in a Church in 2015 by a white extremist; the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the running-down of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville in 2017 (Trump commented that there were “very fine people on both sides”); and the more recent ICE killings.
• DuVerney really sticks the knife in over the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol building, pointing out that Trump shouldn’t be allowed to hold office (due to article 3) and that it was illegal to reimburse the pardoned rioters for the impact of their actions (due to article 4). It’s a powerful and persuasive argument.
• I really enjoyed the extracts of stand-up comics, putting their fingers on the button of the key issues being discussed.

Negatives:

• The documentary is primarily composed of talking heads, saying lots of interesting things. But the dialogue is sometimes drowned out by Jason Moran’s incessant music over the top. Some of it was OK – slow strings etc. But at other times, it is jaunty jazz-style numbers that are really really irritating when you’re trying to listen.
• Some of the themes become quite repetitive. The documentary is generally over-stuffed. This could and should have been a much tighter 90 minute documentary.
• One of the talking heads is the podcaster Dean Withers, but I wanted to hear more from him on his views (as a younger citizen). Withers is always so on-the-ball and articulate when I see his clips and phone interviews with MAGA dipshits: I was looking for more than the brief clip we saw, but none came.

Summary Thoughts:

It was interesting. It was overlong though and I got a bit bored with some of the repeated information. But it still did what a good documentary should do and taught me about something I knew very little about.

14th premieres globally on Netflix on December 4, 2026, following a select theatrical release in the U.S. and U.K. on November 27, 2026.

Where to watch?

Trailer:

The teaser trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f74Ik-3GgGU.

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