Starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood and Stephen Culp
This is not the image we usually associate with the mythic president. At least not the image we used to associate with presidents. But the human element had to be there, and it shines through in the historical thriller based on 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis.
We know the facts: The USSR was secretly setting up nuclear missiles on Cuban soil, and America finds out and blockades the island and the two mega-powers engaged in a now-cliched staring contest. The Russians blinked, for which not-yet-born generations are forever thankful.
“Thirteen Days,” though, rightfully focuses on how being on the brink can bring out all the human frailties, especially for those in charge of millions of lives. So Kennedy, his brother Robert (Steven Culp) and adviser Kenny O’Donnell (Kevin Costner) form a triumvirate of worries as White House personnel guard against a disastrous fate.
Director Roger Donaldson’s movie uses Costner’s character as a storytelling focal point. The technique works by allowing a fly-on-the-wall perspective to the proceedings and still allowing the Kennedy mystique to remain intact. The personal nature is punctuated by a smooth and symbolic visual style. Colorful drama drifts into black-and-white tension, the actors’ lines are followed by stock footage including the actual planes and missiles involved in the conflict.
There only is one instance where this fails. A beginning sequence full of nuclear bombast segues into a scene from the O’Donnell family. Then BAM! Costner’s heavy accent goes over like a lead zeppelin, or a New Englander’s symphony of chalkboard scratching.
But the initial tittering from the accent dies down after a few scenes, trust me. Fortunately, both Culp and Greenwood master both the accent and the mannerisms inherent in the Kennedy brothers. Culp’s JFK is stately, yet extremely hesitant to engage in any military action that could lead to World War III. His stares out the window say much more than grand soliloquies or presidential posturing.
Culp, though, absolutely shines as the hard-nosed Bobby Kennedy. Every image of the younger brother fits like the movie was a great home video. The hunched-over shoulders, the hand to the chin and the uncanny resemblance all are amazingly accurate. His performance should be considered seriously for the awards season next year, although by that time the movie will be forgotten, unfortunately.
The story remains interesting because of the conflict between the three main characters and hawkish military leaders that think the Kennedys are too soft. Both sides are anxious to avoid another Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba, but the military would rather send an immediate message than depend on the Soviets to back down.
This conflict allows for just a few Soviets to appear on-screen. Nikita Khrushchev doesn’t make an appearance, adding an odd sense of tension with a one-way conversation full of mysterious replies. It’s like piecing together a cyber relationship based on only one person’s e-mails -- full of tension as we wait for that next response.
That is only a rough equivalent. Those of us who didn’t live through 1962 can’t fathom the threat of world destruction or hoping for the sun to come up tomorrow. For people who did, “Thirteen Days” certainly must do those times political justice.
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