Coming Together for 'Thirteen Lives'
'Thirteen Lives' gives a dramatic adaptation of a humanitarian triumph that captured the global imagination.

In 1986 LA, an illegal immigrant (Elpidia Carrillo) suffers from past tortures in her native El Salvador. Her husband had been killed and her two children taken from her. She was an educated teacher with a philosophy degree, but now is forced to take only the most menial tasks and lives in a roach-infested dwelling. This fragile woman is turned over to a case worker (Barbara Williams), who is recently divorced and is struggling as a single mother to her young son. These two very different women make contact and the therapist decides to help the Latin American find her children. Inquiries leads to the children being in Mexico and with a high enough fee, they can be smuggled into the US.
'Thirteen Lives' gives a dramatic adaptation of a humanitarian triumph that captured the global imagination.
The film's Incluvie rating is off the charts. It features Black, Muslim, queer, trans humans whose moms hold them up, fight for them, and love them for who they are...making anything possible.
Disney has kept its word and allowed a new generation of Black and/or African storytellers to tell their own original stories. The question remains, will the public keep their word?
Can a piece of bad representation truly be reclaimed? We Are Pat (2025) attempts to answer this question.
The problem isn’t that it’s bad. It's good. But it fails to stand out from a crowd of similar films.