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Thirteen Days
***1/2
Cinema Releases - March 16, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. 145
minutes. Directed by Roger Donaldson. Written by David Self; from the book
"Kennedy Tapes - Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis"
by Ernest R. May, Philip D. Zelikow. Starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood,
Steven Culp, Dylan Baker, Henry Strozier.
Upon a careless slip in diplomacy and at the touch
of a few red buttons, our world will go up in smoke. Bombs will drop, mushroom
clouds will swirl in eerie patterns, and white light so bright it can blind
you from forty miles away will shoot across countries, incinerating all.
The reality of nuclear holocaust sounds so much like science fiction it's
no wonder most people don't think it could ever happen.
The terrifying thing about "Thirteen
Days" is that it shows how close we came. Roger Donaldson's film
takes us back to that fortnight in 1962 known as the Cuban Missile Crisis,
when Kruschev placed ballistic missiles at the United States' doorstep, and
JFK announced that they'd better be taken back to Russia, or else. America
held its breath, and so did the rest of the world; my mother, who grew up
in Ireland, was in primary school at the time and still remembers how chilled
she was when her teacher passed out warning leaflets and gave instructions
on the duck-and-cover method.
"Thirteen Days" sees events through the eyes of
Kenny O'Donnell (Kevin Costner), an advisor on the President's staff with
access to the rooms where decisions are made and to the ears of the Kennedy
brothers. The tightrope American politicians had to walk in this situation
was extraordinary -- how much information do they let the Russians and the
press know they have, how do they react firmly without aggravating the situation,
how do they even keep those within the White House happy? One of the horrifying
things we see here is the trigger-happy attitude of the military men visiting
the Oval Office; those who thought John Kennedy was a wimp undeserving of
the presidency were still playing subtle games of one-upmanship even as they
held the fate of the world in their hands. The Kennedys try to calm things
down with the minimum of provocative violence; General Curtis LeMay (Kevin
Conway) asks for permission to bomb Russia, saying that it will respond with
nothing because "The only alternative Kruschev has is one he can't
choose."
Donaldson, the director, hasn't gone for a lot
of predictable cutaways to regular people reacting to each news development,
or employed flashy editing techniques to give his picture the feel of a thriller.
"Thirteen Days" is tense because most of it stays within the White House,
we see how conclusions were reached, and we wince as we realise just how
high the stakes got. We're allowed to gauge public opinion through small,
insignificant background moments like TV reports, but Donaldson is wise in
not overdoing it -- do we need to be told how the world felt as it stood
on the brink of annihilation? Also worth noting is how remarkably well the
Kennedys are played: Stephen Culp bears a remarkable physical resemblance
to Bobby, Bruce Greenwood looks less like John, but both actors are impressive
at replicating their characters' charm, intelligence and
conviction.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is over, so is the Cold
War, and the world is still here. But what would have happened if the Kennedys
hadn't made the right gambles? And what crises are yet to come? Why are so
many people complacent about the unlikelihood of nuclear war, when we have
incompetents like George W. Bush in charge of powerful nations and every
despot in the world attempting to build atomic arsenals? The bomb has already
been dropped on Hiroshima. It is hardly a testament to the safety of the
rest of the planet that we haven't met the same fate, when that happened
only fifty years ago. Here is a document to keep us alert.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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