“Thirteen Days” is a thrilling account of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although this is a dramatisation of a real-life events, if what is portrayed in this film is not how it really went down, then it sure feels like it is when you watch it. The research and detail that went in to this film is impeccable, with many of the top level discussions portrayed here between President Kennedy and his advisers taken word for word where practicable from historic audio tapes of the real events. The actors portraying the Kennedys, Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp, may not look much like their historic characters but they feel like them, giving you a sense that you are watching a real part of history. Perhaps what makes this whole episode compelling is the politics and dramas behind the scenes, the tensions between different groups who are calling for war while Kennedy is stalling to ensure they don’t bring on a nuclear holocaust. Director Roger Donaldson does a magnificent job of eliciting the tension in the situation, brought on all the more by the fact that this all really happened, and it doesn’t matter that we know the ending already.
The most thrilling aspects to this film lie in the interplay between Kennedy and his advisers. Kennedy is perhaps one of the few people in the room who truly realises that if he orders any kind of military action that it will lead to a nuclear war, and by extension, the end of the world as we know it. Many of his military advisers don’t share this opinion, believing that cooler heads will prevail and that ultimately US power will win out. His advisers start to question his motives, “is he weak?”. What’s even better is that Kennedy it appears was not caving in to their demands, making him obviously not weak. There is a lot of political analysis as well based on theories from previous wars where everyone thought they knew exactly what they needed to do to win but they didn’t take in to account how technology and the world had changed to such a point that made all of those presumptions invalid. Much of these interplays between the characters in question hint at a larger theme or Kennedy rubbing the Establishment up the wrong way, and in this case, “Thirteen Days” draws a nice parallel with Oliver Stone’s JFK in showing how Kennedy was not endearing himself to the Establishment with his policies of change.
Kevin Costner plays Kenny O’Donnell, special assistant to the President. He works behind the scenes, helping the President wherever he can, even if it’s just someone to talk to. Costner is okay in this film, although he does seem to carry one look on his face throughout the entire film. Bruce Greenwood is excellent as President Kennedy – he’s got the voice and even the body language and mannerisms down-pat to the point where you think you’re watching the real thing. Likewise for Steven Culp who probably looks a little more like the real Bobby Kennedy.
Perhaps the only point worth mentioning here is that it would have been nice to see what was going on in the USSR, at their top levels of government, to further flesh out an understanding of how both sides dealt with the crisis. This was probably impossible, not just from a narrative standpoint, but also from an evidence stand point, whether or not there was as much official material to work from. Having said that however, there’s something quite thrilling about having one side (in this case the US) not knowing what’s happening on the other side of the curtain. From a film perspective it drives up the tension and gives more weight to every decision Kennedy has to make in adverting World War 3.
An excellent, riveting film that will give you a fascinating insight in to one of the most chilling episodes in our history where we faced the possibility of nuclear holocaust.
By: Alex Demattia
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For the complete, original DVD review, click this link: http://www.allaboutmovies.net/dvdreviewthirteendays.htm
Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at the film/DVD review web site All About Movies.net. He also contributes reviews and articles for the Digicosm Film Blog: http://www.filmannex.com/Digicosm