13 Minutes: The narrow margin killed Hitler

Elser (Christian Friedel) in a scene from the movie 13 Minutes. Source: Supplied

IN Munich in November 1939, Johann Georg Elser nearly succeeded in ending World War II almost before it began. Elser’s homemade bomb missed its target, Adolf Hitler and a clutch of high-ranking Nazis, by just 13 minutes.

This thriller from Germany tells Elser’s story in flashback as he recalls it while in the hands of interrogators, primarily Nebe (Burghart Klaussner), the police chief who finds it hard to ignore evidence Elser acted alone despite Gestapo pressure to link him to a conspiracy.

A scene from the movie 13 Minutes. Source: Supplied

Elser (Christian Friedel), a carpenter, clockmaker and musician from Württemberg, is a man sympathetic to the socialists but unaligned to any opposition groups: he simply despises the Nazis’ cruelty and anti-Semitism. Popular with the frauleins, he begins an affair with married woman Else Härlen (Katharina Schuttler) and as Germany tumbles toward war, his convictions gain fire.

WHAT TO SEE AT THE MOVIES RIGHT NOW

Oliver Hirschbiegel is a filmmaker who has more luck with fascist dictators than people’s princesses. While his 2004 effort Downfall is one of the best films about Hitler (and gave birth to an all-time classic internet meme), 2013’s Diana is maudlin dreck. His latest film is ignited by his desire to again confront the dreadful realities behind the Third Reich.

Elser (Christian Friedel) in a scene from the movie 13 Minutes. Source: Supplied

As Elser, Friedel gives us a hero with a strong streak of German romanticism, while Schuttler embodies an alluring yet earthy woman of the 1930s. The narrative keeps up the intrigue, with Elser’s eventual fate being not quite as clear-cut as you might expect.

Opens Thursday

13 MINUTES

Released by StudioCanal

Star rating 3.5/5

Director Oliver Hirschbiegel

Starring Christian Friedel, Katharina Schuttler, Bjurghart Klaussner

Running time 116 minutes

Verdict War buffs will love this well made drama

Originally published as The man who almost killed Hitler

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