14th Film Review: Disappointing Documentary

Despite the fascinating subject matter and incredibly urgent topic, 14th falls short in its problematic and unethical use of AI.

While these may seem complicated terms, it was key to the Civil Rights movement and to ensure that the United States could move forward as a “multiracial democracy,” as the film explains. 

Not as strong as the previous documentary, 14th borrows a lot of visual elements from 13th in its use of talking heads interviews, animated quotes on the big screen, and archival footage. It would soon get repetitive, if it was not for how relevant and urgent the topics explored in this documentary are. With this film, the director issues a call to action for everyone to start paying attention when their civil rights are literally being taken away in front of our eyes in Trump’s United States in 2026 when citizens’ lives, liberties, and properties are suddenly in immediate danger.

14th works really well as an educational documentary, explaining the details of the Fourteenth Amendment and the way in which its due processes are being overlooked by the very people that should have enforced them in the first place. It is a terrifying scenario and Ava Duvernay does not shy away from it in the slightest. This becomes even more evident in the second half of the film when the director introduces a real-life dimension to what has so far been an historical and theoretical based documentary. The real life footage of ICE agents and their attacks on the American people add a level of urgency to the film with the use of these extremely violent and potentially triggering videos.

The use of AI is unfortunately what undermines this entire movie, which would otherwise be an excellent documentary. Its use also feels entirely unnecessary and unjustified as it is only used to animate archival photos that are shown in 14th. On the one hand, a filmmaker like DuVernay could have easily afforded using a different and more accurate type of technology to recreate the same effect without putting people out of jobs and wasting natural resources. On the other, it just doesn’t look good and feels very artificial and jarring, taking the audience out of the movie and narration rather than making us feel like part of the story.

Not only that, but this blurs the lines for AI use in documentary filmmaking and opens the door to the terrifying possibility that even documentaries can be manufactured more than they already are. When certain types of documentary filmmaking already play too much with the truth with techniques like voice of God narration and re-enactments, the use of AI in this genre becomes even more concerning in the way it can manufacture the truth and alter historical reality. This is especially true in 14th because the film never actually discloses its use of AI, which makes its use even more problematic and unethical as it is passed for the truth but, in reality, is only fabricated. The people in this photo also have no say on whether or not they consent to their likeness being used for generative AI purposes, taking away the agency from people whose voice is already unheard and underrepresented. 

Overall, 14th would have been an excellent documentary if not for its unnecessary and concerning use of generative AI. Its analysis of today’s political situation in the United States is poignant and very well portrayed, making it easy for the audience to understand while also maintaining a rigid intellectual approach. Unfortunately, the use of AI in documentary filmmaking is too obvious to ignore and raises too many concerns to just let it go unnoticed.

Ava DuVernay’s 14th was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 12-18, 2026.