Good but one-sided view of the Cuban Missile Crisis and its handling.

Rating: Null/10 (22 October 2004)

"Thirteen Days" begins with the discovery of long-range nuclear missile sites being placed in Cuba by Soviet forces in the 1960's. Obviously a terrifying discovery, these missiles could hit every major city in the continental US except Seattle, this information is immediately relayed to President John Frederick Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and his Cabinet. From here on out we get about an hour and a half of the insides of the White House and the decisions taken to alleviate what is known as the closest the world has come to all out nuclear war.
However, not once in the entire 145 minute runtime of "Thirteen Days" do we get the Soviet perspective, or even a clue as to what their intentions or ideas were for placing thes missiles in such close to proximity to the US. Also, the film lacks the historical background, there is only a brief mention of the fiasco at the Bay of Pigs, that is necessary to understand why the USSR would place these weapons in Cuba, something that in the movie seems almost like a declaration of nuclear war. Historically this is untrue, because the crisis only came about because the USSR believed that they had to protect Cuba which seemed to be close to an invasion from the US, which had been practicing invasion forces as a show of strength on islands in the Caribbean. Although very good at portraying JFK and his cabinet as the hero's of this crisis, it puts the Soviet government, particularly Premier Kruschev in a very poor light, making him seem like a deranged war-crazy lunatic.
This is a well-made film, although I do agree with previous comments that the black and white seens were unnecessary and at times confusing, and that the New England accents were overdone and cheesy. I would recommend this film to anyone who can keep an open mind about the Cuban Missile Crisis and see that it wasn't just the Americans who were heroes and that didn't want a world-consuming nuclear war.