Monday, January 18, 2016

Movie Review: "13 Hours"

Ever since I was a kid I have been drawn to movie  about men who stand and fight against overwhelming odds hoping for reinforcements that never come. These man are always given a way out with all sorts of intellectual reasons why they should not make a stand but chose to stand and fight with their buddies for the cause of freedom!

In 1955 it was Fess Parker at the Alamo in Disney's "Davy Crockett"!

In 1960 it was "The Alamo" again, only this time with John Wayne.

In 2001 it was "Black Hawk Down" about Americans fighting war lords in Mogadishu Sudan.

In 2016 we now have "13 Hours."

All the movies were based upon real events! The two Alamos as well as one done in 2004, with Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett, are about men who are left without help because Sam Houston had none to send but they "buy time" for Houston to build a Texan army. "Black Hawk Down" and "13 Hours" are about Americans who are deserted because U.S. civilian leadership find intellectual reasons why it would be unwise to commit additional forces. After "Black Hawk Down" Bill Clinton at  least had the decency to replace his Secretary of Defense. After the events of "13 Hours"Barak Obama, his Secretary of State and his current National Security Advisor all  chose to lie to the American public for political expediency. In fact, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton lied to the families of the 4 Americans killed at Bengasi over their caskets when they arrived back in the U.S. at a short ceremony.   The lie is that they died because of a video rather than a lack of security in a terrorist attack.

"13 Hours" is told from the point of view of retired military special forces personal who have been hired as civilians to provide security at a secret CIA base in Bengasi, Libya. The move is very well done and is a running battle of 13 hours telescoped into a 2hr 24min movie. The move is based upon a book by one of the surviving security personal. The movie is powerful showing the attack and the difficulty the "soldiers" had in dealing with the CIA bureaucrats. The movie draws you in emotionally with both tears and anger. You are glued to the screen! I left the theater angry. The acting and production values are high quality... very much like "Black Hawk Down".  I will get it on Blu-
ray as soon as it is released.

The morning after the battle our President flew to Las Vegas for a fund raising event and even before the battle was over our Secretary of State went to bed!!!!! YES, I am angry!!!!

On a positive note, it is affirming that America is still able to produce men who are willing to run to the sound of gunfire when duty calls!