"This man could have changed history"
The breathtaking story of a man who nearly would have changed the world. In 1939, when Hitler tricked millions of people at the height of his power, radical Georg Elser — disparaged as an assassin — is one of the greatest resistance fighters.
Christian Friedel
Georg Elser
Katharina Schüttler
Elsa
Burghart Klaußner
Nebe
Johann von Bülow
Heinrich Müller
Felix Eitner
Eberle
David Zimmerschied
Josef Schurr
Rüdiger Klink
Erich
Oliver Bigalke
SA-Mann
Cornelia Köndgen
Maria Elser
The breathtaking story of a man who nearly would have changed the world. In 1939, when Hitler tricked millions of people at the height of his power, radical Georg Elser — disparaged as an assassin — is one of the greatest resistance fighters.
13 Minutes reminds me mostly of two things: Sideshow Bob’s “Do they give a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry?”, and Dominic Toretto’s “It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning” — and, by the same token, losing is losing, whether by 13 minutes or 13 hours. According to a poster, this movie is “based on the true story of the man minutes away from almost killing Adolf Hitler.” The operative word here is “almost” — which as we know only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The film is subtitled “Er hätte die Welt verändert,” or “He would have changed the world.” Woulda, coulda, shoulda, didn’ta. I really don’t understand the fascination with both historical and fictional attempts on Hitler’s life. I mean, it’s just like Terminator; no matter how many robots Skynet sends back in time, John Connor will always live to tell the tale — and so did Hitler until he killed himself (now, if only they made a movie wherein a Hitler from an alternative future timeline is sent to terminate our reality’s version of him; perhaps the one good Hitler in the entire universe is tasked with eradicating his evil counterparts, sort of like that Jet Li movie). Wikipedia informs me that “No fewer than 42 [Hitler assassination] plots have been uncovered by historians. However, the true number cannot be accurately determined due to an unknown number of undocumented cases” (I know that Tarantino did have Hitler killed, but Inglorious Basterds doesn’t count; not because it’s speculative fiction — which it actually isn’t really at all — but because it’s stupid). The movie deserves some credit for choosing an obscure subject; I for one wasn’t aware of Georg Elser’s existence, but then maybe there’s a reason for that — after all, I’m also unaware of the myriad individuals who almost climbed Mount Everest. What makes Elser any more special than the other 41 would-be Hitler killers? If anything, he comes across (at least based on what we learn about him in the film) as a bit of a jerk: he has a child out of wedlock whom he abandons; he seduces a married woman, commits adultery, and procreates another bastard (what? Look it up, that’s the correct word); and he kills eight innocent bystanders in his failed bombing of Hitler (by the way, this is an oddly sedate Hitler; even when he’s giving a speech — the only time we see him —, he does so sans his usual incendiary oratory; odder still because the film is directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, whose Der Untergang features the famous, foaming-at-the-mouth Bruno Ganz performance), none of which he ever appears to be very contrite about.
It is the late 1950s. Flourishing under the economic miracle, Germany grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer doggedly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, written by a man who is certain that his daughter is dating the son of Adolph Eichmann. Excited by the promising lead, and mistrustful of a corrupt judiciary system where Nazis still lurk, Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. To do so is treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.
1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.
In postwar Germany, an American psychiatrist must determine whether Nazi prisoners are fit to go on trial for war crimes, and finds himself in a complex battle of intellect and ethics with Hermann Göring, Hitler's right-hand man.
In post-World War II America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.
When loyalty to country becomes loyalty to a lie, one teen risks everything to expose the truth. With the Gestapo closing in, he must decide what it really means to be a good German.
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.
In December 1941, Czech soldiers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš parachute into their occupied homeland to assassinate Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich.
True story of Ashraf Marwan, who was President Nasser's son-in-law and special adviser and confidant to his successor Anwar Sadat - while simultaneously Israeli Intelligence's most precious asset of the 20th century. Based on NYT bestselling book 'The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel' by Uri Bar-Joseph.
With the Third Reich at its peak in 1942, the Czech resistance in London plans the most ambitious military operation of WWII – Anthropoid. Two young recruits are sent to Prague to assassinate the most ruthless Nazi leader – Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office, the Gestapo and the architect of the Final Solution.
In 1960, a team of Israeli secret agents is deployed to find Adolf Eichmann, the infamous Nazi architect of the Holocaust, supposedly hidden in Argentina, and get him to Israel to be judged.