'13 Minutes' has tantalizing story but workmanlike execution

The film, about the failed 1939 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany, while he was delivering an address to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, is a straightforward thriller that never rises above the dutiful.

|
Courtesy of Bernd Schuller/Sony Pictures Classics
Christian Friedel as Georg Elser in '13 Minutes'.

The failed 1939 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany, while he was delivering an address to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party is the centerpiece of Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “13 Minutes,” a straightforward thriller that never rises above the dutiful.

Christian Friedel plays Georg Elser, an Alpine village boy and pacifist who becomes increasingly enraged by the Nazis and singlehandedly plants his explosives in retaliation. Hitler, of course, escaped, but there were numerous fatalities. The “what if?” aspects of this true-life drama are so tantalizing that the movie’s workmanlike execution is doubly dissatisfying. Grade: C+ (Rated R for disturbing violence and some sexuality.)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to '13 Minutes' has tantalizing story but workmanlike execution
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2017/0630/13-Minutes-has-tantalizing-story-but-workmanlike-execution
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe