POLITICS/CULTURE-CUBA: Reliving 13 Days on the Brink of War

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 12 2001 (IPS) - “Thirteen Days,” a film co-produced by and starring US actor Kevin Costner, has survived trial by fire in Cuba, one of the three countries that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962.

The movie on the missile crisis, which in October of that year entangled the governments of the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba, made its debut this week at the island’s ‘Cinemateca’ after receiving the green light from President Fidel Castro.

Costner, who starred in films like “JFK” by Oliver Stone, about the 1963 assassination of US president John F. Kennedy, and “Dances with Wolves,” which he directed himself, arrived in Havana Monday and received an invitation from Castro for dinner and a private viewing of the missile crisis film.

Controversial like most films that attempt to recreate historic events, “Thirteen Days,” directed by Roger Donaldson, was presented to the island’s president as “a North American perspective of the crisis” of 1962.

The evening with Castro was “very interesting,” according to Costner’s spokesman, Stephen Rivers. The Cuban president responded “very favourably” to the film and told the US guests about his own experiences during those 13 tension-filled days.

The movie shows how on Oct 16, 1962, Kennedy received information about the installation of medium-range Soviet missiles on the socialist-run island. The presence of the warheads meant that several US cities were in under threat of attack.

Just days earlier, the Soviet Union had assured the US president that it would not place weapons of that type in Cuba.

The film recreates – through the viewpoint of Kenneth O’Donnell, Kennedy’s assistant (played by Costner) – the anxiety experienced in the nearly two weeks that the crisis lasted, including Washington’s decision to impose a naval blockade against Cuba.

Writer David Self based his film script on the academic literature published about the missile crisis, press reports from the period, declassified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and White House recordings.

The filmmakers provide the sources used, opinions from politicians and historians, and data on the risk of nuclear war today on the Internet site (www.cubanmissilecrisis.org/) that also serves to promote the movie.

“It is a film that can be debated from various facets, but it is nevertheless astonishing,” commented Joel del Río, member of Cuba’s National Association of Cinema Critics, and a film critic for ‘Juventud Rebelde’ newspaper.

Despite the fact that everyone knows how the 1962 crisis turns out, that at ended with the Soviet Union withdrawing its nuclear missiles from Cuba, the film “is admirably constructed in terms of suspenseà and especially attempts – successfully – to emotionally involve the audience in a true story,” said Del Río.

The expert underscored the pacifist message of “Thirteen Days” and its indirect appreciation of the “indescribable weight that is involved in every decision of high politics.”

Costner has stated that “Thirteen Days” contains a clearly political message and that he hopes it will contribute to preventing future crises as dangerous as the one portrayed in the film.

“People think that the danger is long past, but there are still dozens of nuclear missiles in the world. Why should we believe we are safer than we were then?” wonders the actor, who considers the person he plays, O’Donnell, “a window on history.”

The attribution of a central role to character Kenneth O’Donnell, as assistant and personal friend of Kennedy, has triggered controversy since the film’s US premiere, last Dec 20 in Washington.

In a ‘Juventud Rebelde’ commentary, this “artistic license” is evaluated with a simple quote from one of the film’s producers: “If we were giving history lessons, people wouldn’t go to the movies for entertainment, but to see documentaries.”

In Cuba, the debate has been concentrated on what the reconstruction of the missile episode might look like if filmmakers on the island were to tell the story from the Cuban perspective, as Costner and his associates suggested to Castro that they should do.

The missile crisis, or the October Crisis as it is known on the island, reached its end when Nikita Kruschev, secretary general of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, accepted a deal with Kennedy and withdrew the warheads.

The Moscow-Washington treaty saved the world, but especially annoyed Castro because Cuba had been excluded from the dialogue and the decisions were made without his participation. Havana maintained at the time that the missiles should remain on the island.

US President George W. Bush screened the film at the White House, and now Castro has seen it at the Palace of the Revolution, headquarters of Cuba’s Council of State. Next it goes to Russia, the next stop on the Costner team’s promotional tour.

Castro “responded very favourably to the film and we had a very interesting discussion after” the showing, said Costner’s spokesman, Rivers.

“Thirteen Days” also had a screening for Cuban filmmakers and for some cultural personalities, in addition to a special showing – for invited guests – at Cinemateca.

Costner was invited to Havana by the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinema Industry, but his agenda was coordinated by the Council of State, the government’s highest body, and included a cigar factory visit, a baseball game and a conference with the Cuban officials who were involved in the missile crisis.

To fly to Havana, Costner had to obtain authorisation from the US Treasury Department due to the travel restrictions imposed on US residents who want to visit the island. The restrictions are part of the trade embargo imposed on the island almost since the beginning of Castro’s regime, which dates back to 1959.