Well, “13 Minutes” has certainly taken its sweet time to reach U.S. shores. The latest from “Downfall” director Oliver Hirschbiegel debuted at the Berlin Film Festival way back in 2015, and now nearly two years later, it will get an arthouse run thanks to Sony Pictures Classics. And while we had mixed feelings about this “elegant, expensive-looking, respectful history lesson,” those who dig pictures based on true events during WWII, will likely be quite happy with the result.
Starring Christian Friedel (Michael Haneke‘s “The White Ribbon“), the movie details the plot that unfolded to kill Hitler by setting off a bomb at a venue where the Nazi leader was going to be speaking. Of course, we know it didn’t work, but the machinations of how it played out are nonetheless intriguing. Here’s the official synopsis:
READ MORE: Netflix Picks Up ‘Downfall’ Director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Six-Part Series ‘The Same Sky’
During Hitler’s anniversary speech on November 8, 1939, a man is arrested on the Swiss border for possession of suspicious objects. Just minutes later, a bomb explodes in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller, immediately behind the Führer’s lectern, killing eight people.The man is Georg Elser (Christian Friedel), a carpenter from Königsbronn in the Swabia region.When a map of the site of the assault and detonators are found on him, he is sent to the head of the Criminal Police in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt,Arthur Nebe (Burghart Klaussner) and the head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Müller (Johann von Bülow) to be questioned. From them, Elser learns that his attempt has failed – that the man he wanted to kill in order to stop the bloodshed of the World War that had just begun, has left the Bürgerbräukeller 13 MINUTES before the explosion.
“13 Minutes” opens on March 17, 2017. [via FirstShowing]
