I went to an early screening of 13 Hours, Michael Bay’s exceptional tale of the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Yes, this is a war movie. But it is also a tale of how an under-resourced band of brothers protected their civilian colleagues in hell.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber) – Wherever you stand on the Benghazi investigation and the attendant e-mail “scandal” regarding Hillary Clinton, this film will open your eyes to what actually happened the night on September 11, 2012, and the next morning. Based on the book by Mitchell Zuckoff as told by the soldiers and diplomats, 13 Hours is billed as “a true story,” not merely a fictionalized version of what happened. Directed by Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon, the Transformers franchise), 13 Hours chronicles the lifesaving efforts of a half-dozen Special Forces soldiers who were stationed at the supposedly covert CIA base located a mile from the American “compound” (not an official embassy or consulate).
You are likely to walk away angry by the lack of any help for the under-resourced servicemen by the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA, the White House, or the military leaders in the Middle East despite the fact that they had live drone pictures of the firefight on the ground and despite urgent cries for help.
Acknowledging that this is told from the vantage point of the soldiers as told to Zuckoff, a former Boston Globe reporter who is a professor of journalism at Boston University, this movie is a Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, CIA and Obama Administration nightmare because it denies that there were any protests about an anti-Islamic video. The CIA station chief comes off as an ass-covering bureaucrat. But the movie does not dwell there. This is not a political statement; it is a war drama.
The stars are the soldiers, who show incredible resolve, bravery, creativity, commitment, humanity and leadership. B-list stars John Krasinski (a dramatic surprise compared to his roles in The Office and a few light films) and the always-excellent James Badge Dale (The Departed, The Pacific, The Walk) star in this tense, human drama. For 144 minutes, the 13 hours between dusk and dawn play out before our eyes on fantastic sets (in Malta) that mirror the buildings in Benghazi where the soldiers couldn’t tell the good guys from the bad guys.
Assuming this is really the true story of that night, every American should see it … and be angry about the people we put in harm’s way with virtually no help when the feces hit the fan.