Angel and Tiggs

I was positively impressed for many reasons.

• It was the first movie in a very long time that proudly announced “This is a true story”, unlike “Based on a True Story” or even “Inspired by True Events”. Trust me, the real deal makes a huge difference.
• Herr director Michael Bay has changed. He did his best to tell what actually happened in Libya 3.5 years ago. Before watching 13 Hours I saw one featurette and one making off. At least 3 of the guys who went through the battle survived to tell the story and served as consultants to the movie. If you look at Bay’s filmography, it will be almost impossible to find something close to the truth.
• Yes, there is the usual Hollywood embellishment and excessive patriotism in some scenes but overall acting and the story are pretty convincing. Background and personal stories are not an excuse for the plot. If you watched Pearl Harbor (also directed by Bay), you’ll get my point.

13 Hours’ weakness lies on the lack of the in-depth coverage around the causes of the attack. The movie leads you to believe that angry Libyans randomly decided to attack Americans on 11-September. The work was in fact  orchestrated by a local militia. Days later, more than 100,000 “true” Libyans went on to the streets to claim for justice and strongly condemn the acts of violence.

If you forget about the military bragging typical of American movies, the story is quite compelling. There are several interesting lessons to learn from the situation:

It’s remarkable to know that some people will put their own lives on the line.

If you’re part of a militia trying to attack highly trained military operators, don’t charge frontally. Read the books and every single commander will tell you that it is suicide except for very specific scenarios.

If you’re the American government dealing with a highly stressful and life-threatening event, there must be better and more efficient ways to make decisions. The lack of action to support the besieged Americans was appalling. If details are true (and I’m assuming they are because everything is logged), the US had massive forces all over the place but decided against deploying the options. Why?

Unfortunately 13 Hours is yet another good reminder of how American foreign policy fails on “post-game” handling (to quote a term from the movie Charlie’s War referring to the American support to Afghan mujahedeen against the USSR).