Thirteen Days

If the sun comes up tomorrow, it is only because of men of good will. And that's - that's all there is between us and the devil. - Kenny O'Donnell in the movie 'Thirteen Days'


There was a movie screening of the film 'Thirteen Days' for History students last Thursday in a lecture theatre. I am (of course) one of those lucky people who actually got to watch this film. Just for the movie, me and my class chose the best seats in the lecture theatre so that we could actually enjoy watching it. It was really a good movie but I ain't one to give a full movie review so let's just drop the idea.


In case you have exactly no idea what the movie is about, I shall give a brief introduction on the plot. The movie is based on the Cuban Missile Crisis, apparently all thirteen days of the crisis from the beginning when the Soviet missiles were secretly shipped and placed in Cuba, all the way till the USSR's agreement to remove the missiles and the end of the Naval Blockade in the perimeters of Cuba. 


Apparently, History is one of the subjects I have chosen to take in the A-Levels, and Cold War is one of the very few themes there are in the subject. Having took History Elective (and scoring pretty well in it) in Secondary School, History remains one of my favourite subjects that I trust myself in obtaining high scores. And Cold War is one of the topics that I was taught by my Mr Sem, my History teacher, who had probably made us master the art of "smoking". Besides being taught the reasons and impacts of this and that in the Cold War, I had my very own knowledge of the topic, so I generally had the whole idea of what actually occurred in the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis.


You might wonder, why would I choose to watch the film till the very end if I understood almost everything that had happened, here's my answer: I have been told by my History tutor that it is a great movie. No joke, it really is. The tutors have reminded us that the film is made from the US perspective, and since we are trying to be as unbiased as possible in our essays, we shouldn't really judge from the movie itself and just enjoy the film as it is. Not that we care anyway. 


The film is circled around President Kennedy and his advisors, the dire situation they were facing in the events of the crisis, and the difficult decisions President Kennedy had to make in order to save the world from Mutually Assured Destruction(MAD) when both superpowers would fire their nukes at each other, killing millions upon millions of people. Well, had that actually happened, we probably won't be here right now. Heck, humanity would probably cease to exist.


It was the men of goodwill that saved the world from plunging into an all-out nuclear war. Thankfully, men of goodwill existed in that period of time. Both sides actually negotiated to bring the crisis to an end. That was good enough. After watching the movie, I had a clear picture of what President Kennedy faced during the crisis: the military heads who strongly opposed his decision of a blockade and to bring about a peaceful end to this crisis, the media who was pouncing on him, the unseen enemy in both Cuba and the Soviet Union, and the precious time which was ticking away.


In the end, the crisis was brought to an end without taking away many lives, then I could say it is because of men(or women) of goodwill who saved humanity. I could see such great leadership and moral qualities within the US leaders. I aspire to be like them someday, really. In times of crisis and strife, heroes rise to the occasion. Let's hope that there are men of goodwill in their midst.