Easing Up on the Trigger

“Thirteen Days,” the crisp and involving dramatization of 1962’s Cuban missile crisis, starts with shots of what might have been--rockets being fired and exploding on target, the awful mushroom clouds of nuclear holocaust. Pay attention is the message, don’t forget that this is what was at risk.

If high stakes make for high drama, that near-fortnight of tension and peril--arguably the closest the world has come to being annihilated--is as dramatic a subject as anyone could want. And director Roger Donaldson and a fine ensemble topped by Kevin Costner (not your usual ensemble player) have handled it adroitly.

Someone who has talked about his vivid memories of living through those 13 days in his native Australia, Donaldson (“No Way Out,” “Dante’s Peak”) used that personal involvement to turn out a confident, professional film that, a few problematical areas notwithstanding, is likely his best work as a director.

With a tone that sporadically ventures into the gee-whiz, “Thirteen Days” is not a film for inveterate haters of the brothers John F. and Robert Kennedy, though it should be said that its heroic point of view is something of a relief after the avalanche of partisanship the last election triggered.

Also, those who are bears for historical accuracy will be surprised at the preeminent position inevitably given to the man Costner plays, Kenneth P. O’Donnell. O’Donnell was one of JFK’s closest aides but, as more of a fall-on-the-sword kind of guy than moral philosopher, probably didn’t have nearly the role in the Cuban missile crisis the film gives him.

Still, David Self’s careful, measured script (it’s hard to believe his last credit was “The Haunting”) earns our respect and our attention. For one, it’s based on extensive research, including the Kennedy White House tapes and interviews O’Donnell (whose son, Kevin, is an investor in Beacon Pictures, which made the film) did with journalist Sander Vanocur. Just as important, Self and Donaldson have understood that when you’re dealing with inherently dramatic material, nothing works so well as restraint.

Efficient and low-key, “Thirteen Days” takes itself just seriously enough while maintaining a powerful dramatic momentum. Its cast, including Bruce Greenwood as the president and Steven Culp as his attorney general, not only look remarkably like the people they’re playing, but they’ve all been made to understand that individual performances have to be subservient to the good of the whole.

This even applies to Costner, whose name will sell the picture but who is smart enough to be content with his role as the window into the story. The main difficulty the actor has is with his no doubt based-on-fact but still god-awful Boston accent, a painful reminder that certain kinds of stars should avoid accents at all costs.

*

“Thirteen Days” starts with the U2 surveillance flight that discovered medium-range Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba, missiles that could potentially reach as far as Washington, D.C., and kill millions of Americans. The experts’ best guess is that they’ll be operational in 10 to 14 days, so it’s essential that a way be found to deal with them as soon as possible.

The first questions, obviously, are about the Russians. What are their intentions? What’s the best way to deal with them so as not to precipitate a deeper crisis or a world war? Kennedy and company were handicapped during their deliberations by not knowing what the Russians knew, and the film smartly adds to the tension by keeping us similarly in the dark, never shifting focus to Moscow and refusing to clue us in on what the Soviets and their leader, Nikita Khrushchev, were thinking.

Difficult as the Russians are, the president soon comes to feel that his nominal friends and allies in the military are giving him more trouble than his avowed enemies. While other options like blockades are suggested, one of the themes of the film, backed up by history, is how fiercely the military establishment pushed for an all-out attack on Cuba even though it would probably have led to nuclear war.

The Russian incursion, Gen. Maxwell Taylor announces, is “a massively destabilizing move” that must be countered. And Gen. Curtis LeMay (Kevin Conway) goes further. “The big red dog is digging in our backyard,” he barks, “and we’re justified in shooting him.”

Trying to resist this stampede, the president, his brother and their supporters try hard to keep a sense of historical perspective. “We have to make things come out right,” Kennedy says, always keeping in front of him the example of the start of World War I as related in Barbara Tuchman’s “The Guns of August,” which detailed how the momentum for military action got so strong that the war began even though none of the leaders involved really wanted it.

Kenny O’Donnell’s job in all of this, if “Thirteen Days” is to be believed, was to function as a combination sage and secret agent, to be the pragmatic voice of reason ready to do what needed to be done while serving up nuggets of wisdom and kernels of plain truth. Even if not historically accurate, it’s an acceptable construct the film uses as a way to increase dramatic effectiveness.

Dealing with all these crises and decisions gives “Thirteen Days” a surprising amount of tension and watchability for a story whose outcome we already know. Adding to the film’s compelling nature is the unfortunate fact that the broader issues it deals with have hardly gone away. The shapes and forms may change, but as long as nuclear arsenals are a fact of life, the concerns Kennedy and his advisors had to cope with will keep reappearing time and time again.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for brief strong language. Times guidelines: disturbing for its images of nuclear war and for its emphasis on how close we came to it.

‘Thirteen Days’

Kevin Costner: Kenny O’Donnell

Bruce Greenwood: John F. Kennedy

Steven Culp: Robert Kennedy

Dylan Baker: Robert McNamara

Michael Fairman: Adlai Stevenson

A New Line Cinema presentation in association with Beacon Pictures, released by New Line Cinema. Director Roger Donaldson. Producers Armyan Berstein, Peter O. Almond, Kevin Costner. Executive producers Ilona Herzberg, Michael De Luca, Thomas A. Bliss, Marc Abraham. Screenplay David Self. Cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak. Editor Conrad Buff. Costumes Isis Mussenden. Music Trevor Jones. Production design Dennis Washington. Art directors Thomas T. Taylor, Ann Harris. Set decorate Denise Pizzini. Running time: 2 hours, 26 minutes.

At selected theaters.