13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a true story, and a tribute to those American soldiers who defended CIA agents and other personnel in Benghazi, back in 2012, when Libyan radicals attacked their compounds. Directed by Michael Bay (Transformers, Pearl Harbor), the movie tells the story of six American elite soldiers, including last recruit Jack (John Krasinski, you may have seen him in The Office) that are deployed as a security team to protect a secret American base in Benghazi, where CIA agents operate as the country goes through a revolution to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi. When the nearby and under-armed American diplomatic compound is attacked by Libyan radicals, and Ambassador Chris Stevens’ live is at risk, the team, led by Rone (James Badge Dale) disobeys orders and chooses to go rescue the embassy. After this first attack, the radical Libyans turn their guns towards the secret base, where the American soldiers bravely fight back to defend it.
13 Hours aims to show the man behind the gun: these soldiers are tied by what they lived, saw, and did together, and most of the time have a family; a wife and kids waiting for them at home, who don’t understand why they keep on going back there. These soldiers are on a job, and most of the time it’s so intense that going back to civilian life is extremely difficult afterwards.
The movie depicts what war is: a big fucking mess. You don’t know who’s a friend and who’s not, there are guns everywhere, you can buy people’s friendship, you can get killed on a misunderstanding, and the police has its own agenda. The motto is pretty much “kill or get killed,” which is how you start a violent revenge circle. At the end of the day, it’s not just a bad guy that’s killed, it’s a human who had a mother, and perhaps a wife and children. As French poet Jacques Prévert wrote: “quelle connerie la guerre.” or “what a fucking stupidity war is.”
13 Hours is a well produced, impressive movie with guns, explosions, gunshots, guns, explosions, blood, and tears. It shows how civilians go on living when their city is uprising, and gorgeous landscapes polluted by the aftermath of war. It also shows the complexity of war and its opposed interests, and it is a tribute to those two American soldiers that gave their live during this attack.
Grade: B
The movie depicts what war is: a big fucking mess. You don’t know who’s a friend and who’s not, there are guns everywhere, you can buy people’s friendship, you can get killed on a misunderstanding, and the police has its own agenda. The motto is pretty much “kill or get killed,” which is how you start a violent revenge circle. At the end of the day, it’s not just a bad guy that’s killed, it’s a human who had a mother, and perhaps a wife and children. As French poet Jacques Prévert wrote: “quelle connerie la guerre.” or “what a fucking stupidity war is.”
13 Hours is a well produced, impressive movie with guns, explosions, gunshots, guns, explosions, blood, and tears. It shows how civilians go on living when their city is uprising, and gorgeous landscapes polluted by the aftermath of war. It also shows the complexity of war and its opposed interests, and it is a tribute to those two American soldiers that gave their live during this attack.
Grade: B
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