Thirteen Days Critique - Movie Review Example

In 1962, American spy aeroplanes finds out that russia is secretly hiding and delivering nuclear weapons in Cuba. The advisers of then US President John F. Kennedy remind him that the weapons possess the capability to wipe out all of North America, as well as neutralize all American bases- therefore neutralizing also the US' capability to fight back and enabling the nation to become vulnerable to the russian invasion. Luckily, the nuclear weapons are not yet functional, and Kennedy and his advisers must find a way on removing the weapons out of Cuba - whether through sincere negotiations or their weapons. At first, diplomatic negotiations do not succeed as the russians hide the truth and threaten Kennedy. The Secretary of Defense then arrives with a risky plan- a blockade on Cuba to prevent further weapons from entering the nation. When the Russians do not mind the blockade and make efforts to overturn it, circumstances immediately turn from good to hopeless.

Based on structure, the movie can be distinguished into two specific components: the initial component of the movie introduces the main protagonists' russia and the US, as well as the innate attitudes and traits of their leaders, and just as significantly, the emerging signs of the potential clash between the two superpowers. The second part portrays America’s efforts to combat their worsening fear of invasion by the russians with the help of peaceful negotiations as they get stranded over the peace talks, and eventually their agreement with russia to stop the loading of nuclear weapons. Bridging the two parts are situations where neither the people watching the movie nor the two main countries know what will happen next, truly a suspenseful masterpiece.

The majority of the movie’s symbolic imagery is focused on America’s diplomatic efforts towards russia and its mischievous plans. The symbolism of the negotiations in this movie allows the audience to comprehend what happens between two nations stranded in a tug of war fighting for supremacy, when suffering from a terrible dilemma, and most significantly when stepping up to the challenge and making tough decisions that will decide the fate of their countrymen. The negotiations are the primary foundations or the framework of the movie, including their positive and negative results.

Much of the negotiations that happened during the movie were between US President John F. Kennedy and russian President Nikita Kruschev. While President Kennedy was convinced that the photos of nuclear missile build-up captured by their spy planes were indeed authentic and therefore a direct threat to Americans, Kruschev was adamant in mentioning that these weapons were not intended for harmful utilization. Nonetheless, the US government maintained their peaceful ways of managing the crisis at hand, until they learned that the russian and Cuban governments under Fidel Castro had already agreed on various policies as to the utilization of nuclear weapons. While it was clear that the peaceful efforts of the US to negotiate the crisis failed at first, in the end, all the nations involved agreed to remove all their weapons and threats to each other. While the world seemed close to witnessing another brutal war, the insistent diplomatic efforts of the American government led by President Kennedy paved the way for a peaceful ending to this crisis.