THIRTEEN DAYS review

Not everyone watches movies the same way. Some people watch a film in idle… as a passive film watcher. Others watch films in a strict intellectual manner… analyzing that which they are watching with a logical and detached manner. Still others watch films as a form of pure escapism, taking the experience that they are watching as a preferable location to that which they occupy in their lives. These are not exclusive categories… some filmgoers combine all of the above… approaching different films from a different stand point.

Me, well… I do all of the above plus one more. When I watch a certain type of film… I am not viewing the film passively… or purely intellectually… or for escapism entertainment… This certain type of film I develop not only empathy with the characters, but begin projecting myself into the story… imagining along with the actors that I’m trapped in the situation that they are in… given only the information that they have on screen.. and to try and figure out what I would do and how my decisions would have impacted the ending of the film. This is a form of ‘pretend’. As a result of this manner of ‘watching films’ on some movies I’m there… just like when you read a book for pleasure and you imagine the rooms… the smell in the air… and for that brief amount of time that the projector is turning… you are living in the world of the film.

13 DAYS was just such a film for me. Maybe it is because I read the script long ago and some of the movie feels like a memory. Maybe it is the lapses into black & white to remind us of key moments of decision and the public’s imagery that was so well documented in the history books of the time period… the television documentaries… LIFE, TIME, NEWSWEEK… the newspapers… For me, the Kennedy White House was the last Black & White White House. Since Nixon everything has been color… maybe it is because Television went to color right after all of this… but to me… I remember it in Black and White.

Ever since I was a little boy I’ve heard my father’s and mother’s stories about this specific time period… the fears… the uncertainty. I’ve never really experienced that, so for me… to empathize with the memory of my parents… I felt as though watching this film was my time machine to the period.

As such, I really really was quite taken by the film.

First off… if you are going to this wanting an ACTION BANG BANG film go elsewhere… that isn’t this movie. The action is powerful, but it is the type with no guns… Instead of the action being made of flung lead, it is the flinging of ideas, positions, thoughts, doctrines, beliefs… all shooting at a million miles a minute. Imagine if you were in a Jeopardy match where one wrong answer (ok it's Jeopardy, the answers are what you are given, you must respond with the QUESTION) could mean your family’s life or death.

Some of your own people are maneuvering to manipulate you into a situation that you are trying not to trap yourself in. The 13 Days that John F Kennedy stood watch during the Cuban Missile Crisis.. can you imagine being in that position… now watch the film… you have an extended staff of military guys that have the exact opposite political view on life and how to lead it. Eliminate the enemy at all costs. Strike first. Kill them before they kill you.

Kobayashi Maru… for real. And watching the film… Watching Bruce Greenwood, embody the personage and weight of Kennedy in this situation.. you realize, had the election gone any other way… Had Richard Nixon (lets bomb Cambodia) been there… things might not be here anymore. This was destiny in the history books.

DAVID SELF’s script survived the filmmaking process and is the backbone of this film. Roger Donaldson did a bang up job with the film… using the collective media memory and excellent production time to anchor us to the period and the situation. So many elements to control and keep tabs on… this is not a small film, this movie paints an entire nation’s capabilities in motion… how things go wrong… things set in motion through a lack of clear communication. Having to operate outside of the regular chains of command… disobeying the rules of engagement in the largest possible game of the "good of the many vs the good of the few or the one."

Some may have a problem with Costner’s accent… the Boston one… but for me, it is a Boston accent… at least in my memory. What does it serve? Well it illustrates and reminds that Ken O’Donnell is of that Massachusetts area. However, some might have a problem with it… I accepted it and was drawn into the story to the point where I didn’t notice the accent. But often times things like these defuse an entire film for some people. At the same time, Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp as John and Bobby Kennedy avoid the accent game as both the real fellas’ voices are such recognizable and memorable pentameters and tones… that we would instantly be critical of them. However, since I have no memory of O’Donnell speaking… I didn’t have this problem with Costner.

And even if that was a problem.. there is soooooo much going on here. So many things in motion that I can’t imagine nitpicking based on that.

I love Greenwood and Culp as the Kennedy Brothers here… Like Hopkins’ Nixon, they possessed the characters they played through impressionistic manners…. The hair is there, the gestures… a look in the eye… a quarter turn this way and that. Without an admiration for these two and the work they do… everything would fall apart. Costner is there to slow them down… to force them to catch a breath… to remind them that they are not there to make the ‘popular’ decisions, but the right ones. And he’s perfect for the role.

Acting nominations? Steven Culp’s Bobby would deserve one in my eyes… The script, editing… can’t comment on sound, I saw this in a basically MONO screening room. The score by Trevor Rabin was fairly pedestrian… didn’t inspire me much at all… but wasn’t bad. Just… so so.

There was a point, right at the 2 hour mark where I saw about a dozen LED screens on cel phones and watches light up by impatient students that were feeling the film playing long… but other than these visual distractions… I never noticed the time.

I really like the film… love the script and love the key performances. It isn’t quite great… but damn if it doesn’t have moments of greatness throughout. A very strong film.

Also, the film is being delayed for release till the first or second week of January… there is a reason. And the reason will be attached to all the prints when they go out in January. When… all of you will go see the film. Heheheh… When you see the film, try to watch the movie from the perspectives of the characters… the situations… the ramifications… the world they live in. It is all there, all you have to do is leave your seat, your placement in time… and join the story… engage it and you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.