It's quite a sobering thought to ponder that had the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 gone a different way, many of us may not even have been born. Thirteen Days succeeds for the most part in conveying, as the tagline says, just how unbelievably close we came to a Third World War and, let's be honest, nuclear Armageddon. Roger Donaldson's film takes what could have been an extremely dry approach in the form of a docu-drama and manages to spin out of it a sprawling but surprisingly tense narrative, despite being largely made up of men talking in rooms; it doesn't feel particularly cinematic in many places but it's attention to detail and visibly exhaustive research, coupled with a number…

Thirteen Days is about the.......*sigh* thirteen days in which the USA were in a missile tangle with the Soviets & Cuba, which was very close to resulting in a full blown Nuclear War (notice how I used capitals on each word to put across its seriousness).

I appreciate though, that director Roger Donaldson doesn't take an overly serious approach to the material. I was expecting a rigid, immensely talky, head scratchingly political drama, but RD gives it some 'movie oomph'. There is a persistent score which hints at patriotism and impending doom, and there's some really nice sequences in jets and boats that jolt your adrenalin between the heavy dialogue scenes.

The performances too, are aggressive and enjoyable.

But ultimately, it…

Ein üppiger Politthriller und eine gehaltvolle Geschichtsstunde zugleich: leider fehlt mir jegliches historische Wissen um sagen zu können wie exakt der Film die damaligen realen Ereignisse wiedergibt und beschränke es darum auf die Aussage dass alles was der Film wiedergibt sehr sehr glaubwürdig ist.Von der Inszenierung her ist es sowieso genial: Bruce Greenwood sieht aus wie Kennedy aus dem Gesicht geschnitten und an Klamotten, Outfits und Kulissen wurde wirklich keine Mühe gescheut um den Film nach 1962 aussehen zu lassen. Die Story vom drohenden Krieg und dem behutsamen Vorgehen von Kennedy und seinen Männern ist zwar war, hätte aber auch Klasse funktioniert wenn es erfunden wäre. Allerdings wird derjenige der auf Action aus ist wenig daran finden, der Film folgt…

Thirteen Days documents a fulcrum point in 20th Century history. The moment the planet was nearly blown into oblivion but cooler heads prevailed despite enormous pressure from forces both within and outside the government. It's the defining moment in Kennedy's presidency, bar his untimely death. And it's a monumental moment that warrants a cinematic treatment that reflects that. And does it?

Sort of. There is an inherent tension to many of the conversations being had. The blowhard generals and the danger of a misunderstood word that could lead to war is perfectly captured. There's a host of great day player actors filling out these roles providing the consequences with huge weight. And at the top of that mountain are the…

Having an interest in this period of time I was excited to learn about Thirteen Days. Indeed, I had never heard of it before and seeing the cast I have to say that I was a little surprised. However, now having seen it, I'm glad I stumbled across this film. While it's not amazing it is certainly very well made and represents the graveness of the situation brilliantly.

The most impressive thing was how reasonably Donaldson handled showing the Cuban missile crisis and the US politics surrounding it. I think that it would be rather easy to let things get completely out of hand and thus the movie would end being mostly a mess. Either you make it action oriented…