Thirteen Days

I’ve always been wary of “historical docudramas” on the grounds that history has frequently been rewritten to accommodate whatever dramatic purposes the director has in mind.  This case came under especially close scrutiny since I know a lot about the Cuban Missile Crisis, having studied it at length during my first degree in International Politics.  Not only is Thirteen Days as historically accurate as we could reasonably achieve, but played very well and without undue bias on either side.  Erring on the side of narrative to determine how the key decisions were reached rather than melodrama or emotional turmoil was probably a wise decision, and certainly improves both the coherence of the movie and enables a fine cast to extract skilfully understated performances.  7.5/10