Review: Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel tells story of attempt on Hitler’s life in 13 Minutes

REVIEW: Director Oliver Hirschbiegel makes a welcome return to form after his Diana disaster with 13 Minutes.

13 Minutes (M)

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall)

Starring: Christian Friedel, Katharina Schuttler, Johann von Bulow.

Rating: ***

An ultimate matter of time

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The title is of the utmost significance in this intermittently compelling German factual drama.

On November the 8th, 1939, underground activist Johann Georg Elser (Christian Friedel) had the opportunity to powerfully change the course of 20th century history.

However, the bomb he had rigged to kill Adolf Hitler did not detonate until shortly after the Nazi dictator had left the environs of Munich’s Burgerbraukeller.

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The significance of Elser’s solo assassination attempt cannot be under-estimated, nor can the tens of millions of lives that might have been saved in the years that followed.

Not only was Hitler present on the evening of the explosion. Many senior Nazi figures, including Himmler, Goebbels, Hess and Heydrich had all been earlier seated inside the blast zone.

Elser was apprehended by the authorities for suspicious behaviour shortly before the Burgerbraukeller incident, and he could hear the explosion from his holding cell a few blocks away.

What if: Christian Friedel as Johann Georg Elser in 13 Minutes.

Once Elser is identified as the only suspect — covering his tracks did not appear to be a priority — the film focuses largely on his torrid (and often violent) interrogation by the Gestapo.

Elser’s many interviewers refuse to believe this unremarkable clockmaker could have acted alone.

However, some key flashbacks to his earlier years — in which a fundamental distrust of the Nazis intensified to the point where action had to be taken — indicate Elser did have the skill, motivation and singularity of intent to come so near to stopping Hitler permanently.

While 13 Minutes has taken significant liberties with this true story — one of the great “what if?” yarns of modern times — there is just enough substance to its sombre interpretation that justifies a closer look.

The film certainly does mark a welcome return to form for Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), last seen backing away from that shocking Diana movie with Naomi Watts.

Originally published as Review: Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel tells story of attempt on Hitler’s life in 13 Minutes