"Thirteen Days"
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: January 2001   RunTime: 138 Minutes

reviewed by MC5, August 5, 2001

"Thirteen Days" is a re-enactment of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962.
We find "Thirteen Days" to have some historical background value to viewers.

Much of the dialogue concerning the crisis within President John F. Kennedy's
staff is taken verbatim from transcripts. One professor raises the picayune
complaint that a military official did not wear a uniform in the discussions
as depicted in the movie, but we think it a fine alteration to leave who is
who clear for viewers.(1)

Some of the realistic items of the movie that have come to light in recent
years include that the Cubans had tactical nuclear weapons ready and waiting
if the United $tates landed with troops. The movie also shows that the Kennedys
offered to remove nuclear weapons in Turkey in exchange for those in Cuba.
Although this was made obvious in the movie, it did not stop one reviewer from
taking Kennedy campaign-style propaganda at face-value and say that the United
$tates backed the Russians down by using a blockade, instead of the trade.(2)

The production of the movie involved taking the point of view of one participant
--Kenneth O'Donnell.Graham Allison says O'Donnell did not check up on the 
Pentagon by going directly to the pilots flying over Cuba, but MIM cannot
confirm Graham Allison's suspect views, considering his position in 
the ruling class and our lack of investigation.

Historian Ernest May says only one or two things about O'Donnell are not
likely to have happened as shown in the film. He has published a book through
Harvard University Press on the Cuban Missile Crisis. We find it of interest
that the same press that published "The Black Book of Communism" with all its
historical errors promoting anti-communist propaganda has caused Ernest May 
to say the following:  "No doubt with just this sort of reaction in mind, 
Harvard University Press has to my bemused surprise put a new cover on the 
paperback of The Kennedy Tapes, replacing a black-and-white picture of the real 
JFK with a billboard photograph of Thirteen Days stars Kevin Costner, Bruce 
Greenwood, and Steven Culp. The film rights were an outright sale, so the 
movie's success or failure has no effect on my bank account --unless it 
produces a spike in sales of the book, which is clearly what my publisher 
is aiming for in changing the cover." Susceptibility to pressures from the 
ruling circleslike these are also what causes books like the "Black Book 
of Communism" to come out strewn with errors that benefit the ruling class.

One other point we would like to make about the film is that it again shows 
the dangers of having a large militarybureaucracy. Much attention focusses 
on the role of the military brass and even the threat of coup d'etat or
assassination of the Kennedys. More than any other U.S. President, John 
F. Kennedy sparks the imagination of a large portion of the public that 
asks itself, "what would happen if a really good president came to power?" Many
citizens have come to the realization that the Pentagon, CIA, Texas 
billionaire or the mafia would kill a good president
if there were ever one so unlucky or stupid as to appear. Although MIM 
does not agree Kennedy was a "good president," we do agree with the 
Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists that it is essentially impossible to 
get elected and proceed to do good things. The system as created now, 
will simply oust anyone incompatible 
with itself, no matter whether elected or not.

Even mundane operations of the sprawling Pentagon are quite sinister.
During the crisis, a U.S. military plane flew over the social-imperialist
U.S.S.R.--and  got shot down--and the Pentagon launched a nuclear test--
both seen as provocative actions that the Kennedys did not know
or authorize. Whether it is the raping of wimmin and children in Okinawa, 
the sinking of the Japanese trawler by a U.S. sub, or U.S. air pilots 
cutting down Italian skiers in a gondola--these "accidents" are really quite 
predictable results of having such a large military system.

It is important not to let capitalists risk our lives in their ideas about 
war and peace or the environment. They have already had two world wars 
admitted by themselves in the last 100 years and they are conducting a 
third right now against the Third World. 

Even a one percent annual chance of nuclear war destruction caused by capitalist
aggressiveness or "greed" as the people call it should not be tolerated by the
proletariat. After playing Russian Roulette (in which the bullet chamber is different
each time and not related at all to the one that came up in previous spins) with 100
chambers and one bullet, the chance of survival is only 60.5% after 50 turns. In other
words, a seemingly small one percent annual chance of world war means eventual
doom. After 100 years or turns of Russian Roulette, the chances of survival are only
36.6%. After 200 years, survival has only a 13.4% chance. 

Anyone viewing "Thirteen Days," should have a clear understanding of why MIM
says we cannot settle for the current system. We have to create a system of 
harmony internationally.  There is no real alternative.

Notes:
1. http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2001news/13days.htm
2. http://www.all-reviews.com/videos-2/thirteen-days.htm
3. http://www.cubanmissilecrisis.org/page8.asp