13 Minutes, a Review
IN A WORLD...OF WORN OUT SUPER HEROES, TIRED REMAKES AND SEQUELs, COMES A FILM SO SHOCKING MULTIPLEXES ALL OVER THE NATION WOULDN'T SHOW IT. FROM A COUNTRY THAT BROUGHT US THE Nazis, RELIABLE CARS AND SCHADENFREUDE COMES a film about a socialist trying to kill Hitler in 1939 in Munich?! 13 Minutes is a film so audacious that it shows that socialists were not always the bad guys.
The Nazis and Socialists, along with your standard capitalist parties, were fighting for control of the hearts, minds and power in Germany, we'll say since the end of World War I because that's the point in which 13 Minutes first mentions the conflict.
Spoiler alert!: the Nazis were elected to power and systematically started to remove their opponents through work camps, torture, and their favorite, murder. Mild mannered carpenter and socialist sympathizer Georg Elser, played adroitly by Christian Friedel, sees the atrocities of the Nazis. Like many Germans, he decided to resists. In his case, he planned to blow up Hitler, a fantasy many of us had in our youth.
We learn all of this right in the beginning, in the trailer actually. What unfolds is the Nazis attempt to understand how this "lowly carpenter" could have done this alone. Their technique for "understanding" include various forms of torture that would have made Spanish Inquisitors sit up and take notice. What also unfolds is the cause of Elser coming to such a radical decision and his many romances, including the love of his life.
I assume that more of us would have found a way to flee Germany when the Nazis started killing people in our town. I would have chosen the "flight" route myself. Not good old, crafty Elser, who patriotically, as the film plays it, decided to take action. He planted a bomb that missed his target by...some amount of minutes. I don't want to spoil it for you.
The acting is one of the best things about the film. From the bit parts, to the incredibly scary Nazis (IT has nothing on these Nazis), to the love interests, to the towns people, to the socialists, they were all well played. Moreover, the portrayal of the Hitler youth was more frightening than anything I saw in IT.
The costuming and settings were impeccable and the filming framed the action in a simple yet interesting manner. It is German cinema, after all, from the director who brought us the gut- wrenching "Downfall." The music was not overwrought or cloying like Hans Zimmer's "Dunkirk" soundtrack. Overall, the production values show the best of modern cinema.
The parts that don't work could have been fixed with one more pass through the script. There are scenes where the leads, Elser specifically, act out of character. A line or two, five minutes more of screen time, would have solved these issues. While we know the character of Elser, his actions don't match that character in two important ways. Most people won't notice, and I wholeheartedly recommend 13 Minutes.
Rating: Pay Full Price.
Peace, Tex Shelters
IN A WORLD...OF WORN OUT SUPER HEROES, TIRED REMAKES AND SEQUELs, COMES A FILM SO SHOCKING MULTIPLEXES ALL OVER THE NATION WOULDN'T SHOW IT. FROM A COUNTRY THAT BROUGHT US THE Nazis, RELIABLE CARS AND SCHADENFREUDE COMES a film about a socialist trying to kill Hitler in 1939 in Munich?! 13 Minutes is a film so audacious that it shows that socialists were not always the bad guys.
The Nazis and Socialists, along with your standard capitalist parties, were fighting for control of the hearts, minds and power in Germany, we'll say since the end of World War I because that's the point in which 13 Minutes first mentions the conflict.
Spoiler alert!: the Nazis were elected to power and systematically started to remove their opponents through work camps, torture, and their favorite, murder. Mild mannered carpenter and socialist sympathizer Georg Elser, played adroitly by Christian Friedel, sees the atrocities of the Nazis. Like many Germans, he decided to resists. In his case, he planned to blow up Hitler, a fantasy many of us had in our youth.
We learn all of this right in the beginning, in the trailer actually. What unfolds is the Nazis attempt to understand how this "lowly carpenter" could have done this alone. Their technique for "understanding" include various forms of torture that would have made Spanish Inquisitors sit up and take notice. What also unfolds is the cause of Elser coming to such a radical decision and his many romances, including the love of his life.
I assume that more of us would have found a way to flee Germany when the Nazis started killing people in our town. I would have chosen the "flight" route myself. Not good old, crafty Elser, who patriotically, as the film plays it, decided to take action. He planted a bomb that missed his target by...some amount of minutes. I don't want to spoil it for you.
The acting is one of the best things about the film. From the bit parts, to the incredibly scary Nazis (IT has nothing on these Nazis), to the love interests, to the towns people, to the socialists, they were all well played. Moreover, the portrayal of the Hitler youth was more frightening than anything I saw in IT.
The costuming and settings were impeccable and the filming framed the action in a simple yet interesting manner. It is German cinema, after all, from the director who brought us the gut- wrenching "Downfall." The music was not overwrought or cloying like Hans Zimmer's "Dunkirk" soundtrack. Overall, the production values show the best of modern cinema.
The parts that don't work could have been fixed with one more pass through the script. There are scenes where the leads, Elser specifically, act out of character. A line or two, five minutes more of screen time, would have solved these issues. While we know the character of Elser, his actions don't match that character in two important ways. Most people won't notice, and I wholeheartedly recommend 13 Minutes.
Rating: Pay Full Price.
Peace, Tex Shelters