Gay's Days Movie Review: Thirteen Hours

Saturday, January 23, 2015

Good morning friends,

Are you cold? Here in the Houston area, we started with 34 degrees and a beautiful sunrise. We’ll warm to 55 before day’s end with no rain in sight.

  

Not so with others. Whew! I’m sorry many of you are snowed in. I guess it is a good thing it is Saturday—most don’t work on the weekends. For those who must work or get out, I hope you are safe and never stranded on a highway.

Hubby and I took Shelley, our eldest daughter, to a movie yesterday afternoon. We'd been to this theater many times, but we'd never had reclining, plush, leather seats. The tickets had assigned seating...another new feature for us, but then we don't go to movies often. These seating arrangements may be the norm.

 

 

We saw the movie: Thirteen Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. I didn’t find it a political movie. I'd feared it would be in this day of presidential debates. No names of any political parties were mentioned. The actors portrayed an actual, true event without any mention of why the US of A had an embassy in Benghazi—which is a question lingering with me. And why on a 9/11 anniversary, the embassy would be unsecured with only two men to guard the sitting duck compound. I suppose I’ll have to do a bit of research. I’m sure both sides of the political persuasion have an explanation as to why we were there or why we shouldn’t have been there. After studying both sides, I’ll come to my conclusion.

The elites in our government seem to think they must think for the public. Don’t they realize the grass roots out here can decide for ourselves?

But I digress. The movie was brutal, and it could have been worse. I was afraid we’d see the terrorists drag the Ambassador through the streets. We didn’t, but that event happened.

We three left the theater with pride for the Americans who were willing to die for an American on foreign soil. We also felt anger because help failed to arrive, and assistance had been requested many times. Now there’s another question. Who kept aid from coming and why?  Shameful.

To most of us, it makes a lot of difference that four Americans died—especially in a country where we shouldn’t have been. To top it off, the only reason these men died was because they were trying to save themselves and each other. And aren't we thankful several lived to tell the truth about that awful night?

The actors were good, but the music was booming. Much too loud. The compositions made it difficult to understand the words spoken. At one point, I whispered to hubby, “Are you having trouble understanding what they say?” He nodded. I was happy he agreed. It had occurred to me I might need an audio test for my ears. Maybe the movie would have made more sense if I could have understood all the conversations. Darn music.

I may need to read the book to find answers to my lingering questions, but one thing is clear to me. I’m proud of those guys. You will be too when you see their strength, determination and courage against the insurmountable odds they faced.