Thirteen Days

The trouble with history is we all know how it ends. The fact that the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was defused pretty much goes without saying, given that we're all still here. But Roger Donaldson's account of the tense two weeks when it looked as though America and the USSR were going to start a global nuclear war is thoroughly gripping. It recalls equally such jittery cold war thrillers as FAIL SAFE and DR. STRANGELOVE (with the obvious difference that the crisis is averted) and a particularly testosterone-fueled episode of TV's The West Wing, all clean-cut men in suits barking at each other. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 begins...