A "Must See" Film

Rating: 10/10 (26 February 2001)

Thirteen Days is a "Must See" film for anyone, especially the younger viewers who not around during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not only is it an excellent depiction of the historical event that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, it is an excellent movie as well.
From what I have read, the script follows now-declassified tape recordings of the actual meetings in the White House. It captures the actual drama that President Kennedy, his cabinet members, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff created in their arguments.
In October, 1962, the United States discovered from reconnasince photos that the Soviet Union had deployed nuclear bombers and missiles in Cuba. From this launching pad, the Soviets could hit almost any city in the U.S. within five minutes. President Kennedy was at the vortex of the decision of whether or not to go to attack Cuba, which could have lead to World War III, which would have annihilated most of the population of the Earth.
The Administration had to act within a matter of days before the missiles were ready for launch. They also had to control breaking the news to the general public in order to prevent widespread panic. Most of the principals, led by the military leaders, advocated a pre-emptive strike on Cuba, bombing all missile sites, followed by ground invasion to remove Castro. This sentiment was widely held at the time, as we were in the height of the Cold War. Both we and the Russians were "testing" very large nuclear weapons in an effort to scare the other side. The tough speeches made by Premier Khrushchev made most of us think he really would attack us. In fairness, I'm sure the Soviet people really believed we would attack them.
Although I was only 12, I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis vividly. When I saw the President's speech on TV I thought we really would go to total nuclear war. JFK wisely did not choose an immediate strike, and searched for options that would allow both sides to avoid war, and get the missiles out of Cuba.
The film is told completely from the point of view of the U.S. We have no insight about what is going on inside the Kremlin. The Soviets were always "inscrutable" and in this case very frustrating as the few contacts we had seemed to be giving different messages, perhaps even "red herrings" to stall us until the missiles were ready. Some of the cabinet even suspected that Khrushchev had been deposed in a coup.
The director makes good use of special effects of U.S. planes on recon missions and our Navy ships stopping Russian freighters on the high seas. This not only breaks up the dialog, but shows that our Servicemen performed bravely in the face of a tough enemy.
Overall this is an excellent film: historically accurate, suspenseful, brilliantly scripted with strong performances from the entire cast.