13 Minutes

Name: 13 Minutes
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
Released: June 30, 2017
Duration: 114 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Burghart Klaußner, Christian Friedel, Cornelia Köndgen, David Zimmerschied, Felix Eitner

2017

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Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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13 Minutes: You Have To Do What's Right

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 30, 2017 | R

Starring: Burghart Klaußner, Christian Friedel, Cornelia Köndgen, David Zimmerschied, Felix Eitner, Johann von Bülow, Katharina Schüttler, Martin Maria Abram, Rüdiger Klink, Simon Licht

Summary: 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 theDuring 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. For days, Elser is interrogated by Nebe and Müller, for days, he holds out against their questions. Until he finally confesses – and relates the story of his deed. [Sony Pictures Classics]… Expand

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 114 min

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Critic Reviews

Soren Andersen

Aug 10, 2017

Freidel illuminates the inner struggle Elser goes through as, buttressed by his conscience and his Catholic faith, he finds within himself a strength of character and brave defiance that defines him as a hero in the truest sense of the word. Read full review

Claudia Puig

Jun 29, 2017

13 Minutes is well-acted, with authentic settings and an involving structure, but it’s undercut somewhat by a rather flat love story. Read full review

Brad Wheeler

Jul 6, 2017

An interrogation session involving a psychotropic drug is just too weird for words and some will find the film sentimental and too naked in its Academy baiting. That said, 13 Minutes works like clockwork as an artful (if not terribly ambitious) take on a grotesque era. Read full review

Time Out London Dave Calhoun

Feb 7, 2017

It’s an important story, of course, but only mildly engaging as cinema. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Jul 26, 2017

13 Minutes, which was released in Germany two years ago, is an earnest examination of personal conscience and the frequent necessity of the individual to monkey wrench the state. Or at least to try. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Jun 29, 2017

With a little more shading and originality, 13 Minutes might have pushed beyond its familiar Nazi tropes to shape something more immediate and infinitely more potent: an ominous portrait of radicalization. Read full review

Tom Dawson

Feb 7, 2017

This stiffly scripted film never quite stirs the emotions. Read full review

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jennifferc

Jul 1, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The most important thing about this serviceable, high production value Nazi era movie is that it brings to light the relatively unknown true story of Georg Elser, the first person who courageously attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1939. There are vivid scenes of small town Germany in the 1930s & the encroachment of Nazism into ordinary life - either welcome, passively accepted or reviled. The obligatory torture scenes of the protagonist by the Nazi officers are hard to watch but perhaps necessary. However, the directorial/screenplay choice to portray one of Esler's interrogators - the infamous Arthur Nebe (an Einstatzgruppe commander who oversaw mass murder, and who also plotted to kill Hitler late in the war) - as a relatively 'sympathetic' character compared to the side kick SS official, is both frustratingly disturbing in it's white washing of Nebe, but also questionable in its attempt to soften the stereotype of the merciless high ranking Nazi (who by all accounts was indeed, merciless). Because there are so many films about the Nazi era, I think it's difficult to execute a film that brings the events of the period to audiences in a new way. So despite the historical importance and gravitas of the story, the film presents a little too familiarly to be a groundbreaking take on the subject. Yet it's highly watchable and worth watching just to know the story of one ordinary person without any powerful forces behind him, single handedly attempting to sabotage Hitler's regime.… Expand

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geewah

Jan 11, 2021

A decent enough telling of the true story of Georg Elser. A solid enough biopic that just seems to be playing it too safe.

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