So I did not quite get the title. Maybe I missed it. At first, I assumed that the main character had a 13 minute window to kill Hitler and he missed it. I gonna go with that theory, cause the other one is that this plot in the movie was likely 13 minutes of the 114 minute film.Most of the film is a profile on the main character based on a true story. How he lived his life as a musician in Germany during the Nazi reign and about a love affair he was having with a married women. It's fascinating how many films about World War two are coming out lately. I'm seeing one in the theaters every mouth. It's seems like the world wants to reminisce about that time (And I say the world cause none of these films are American). In some case I feel like it's a those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it situation. In other cases, I think it's an issue of just a new story about World War 2 just pops up. In the case of this guy, the movie indicates that it was very recent that they uncovered his status as a resistance fighter and his plans to create a very crafty device that can blow up The FührerSo I would say this, that I liked the movie. It's more about the man who tried to blow up Hitler vs. about his plan to blow up Hitler but it is an engaging story.

I saw this movie at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and it received a strong response and one of the best films at the festival. It is an intense drama of a little known incident, outside of Germany, that was the first assassination attempt on Hitler's life in Munich in 1939 just after World War II broke out. I think this film really captures what it must have been like to live in Germany during the period when Hitler first came to power right up until the start of the Second World War. Georg Elser is the centerpiece of this movie and it starts with his failed attempt to kill Hitler and then through a series of flashbacks reviews the past eight years of his life while he is being interrogated by the local Munich police as well as the far more brutal Gestapo. Georg is portrayed as a bit of a womanizer and a talented amateur musician with a knack for putting a bomb together. He is so talented in his deadly work that the Gestapo has a hard time believing he did this attack entirely alone. The brutality of the Gestapo is hard to watch, but no more so than many other films depicting the German secret police. The acting, as well as the cinematography, and story line is first rate and among the top for this genre. The film is very meticulous in getting the costuming just right, so you get the chilling affect of watching young German boys and girls in their Nazi costumes what could pass for Boy Scout and Girl Scout uniforms were it not for the Nazi swastika. As you watch this movie, you realize how easily the German people came to be totally under the control of the Nazi's via fear of reprisal for not acting in allegiance to Hitler. The citizenry stood by as their friends and neighbors who stood up to the Nazi's were severely punished. We have all seen versions of this in other World War II movies but this film really captures the feeling and I can't emphasize that too much. Georg Elser should have gotten a lot more praised for his heroic actions and not been in obscurity for so long. Maybe this movie will finally give him the recognition long overdue.

I'm always interested in WWII history as my father served. Only having heard vaguely of this attempt in a History Channel program about the attempts on Hitler's life I had never been aware of the facts and the larger story of the man behind the first unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. 13 Minutes depicts this brilliant lone man's attempt to end a mad man's rule reverently for history. As much as a terribly tragic story can, it also explains his despair for taking eight other lives while Hitler escaped unharmed.Aptly titled this movie drives home the point of how likely it was a 13 minute period, the time between Hitler's exit and the bomb's detonation likely allowed millions and millions of innocent deaths during Hitler's bloody reign. Equally important for Americans is the unspoken belief that the war may have de-escalated to the point where Japan may have thought better of attacking at Pearl Harbor. Of course, 13 minutes made what could have been a world altering difference.The story of Gorg Elser should be remembered. There were many Germans who never believed Hitler was a righteous leader. Of many, however, few ever acted so complete was Hitler's henchmen in their terrorizing constant threat of torture and death. Elser was a rare anomaly. So rare, Hitler himself couldn't accept a common laborer, who refused to join the National Socialist Party could conceive and carry out such a well executed bombing. There would be, in time, deadly punishment in the ranks for failure to uncover co-conspirators. This kind of evil hubris underscores the madness of Hitler's brand of vile leadership. This is a no-nonsense film that layers on, literally, nothing to make a story more incredible. It's just a vivid snapshot of a time and place where one man couldn't just stand by and watch. Christian Friedel does an admirable job of recreating how humanity can be trampled on yet survive to do something beyond the believable. His acting skills, along with the excellent writing and direction, put one in his shoes…and, it's quite uncomfortable. It's truly poignant. The Gestapo henchmen all bring the required menace to counterpoint the dire evil the Nazis defended to. It's a film to weigh the cost of regaining something right when everything is only worsening. In the end you'll celebrate the bravery, and likely forgive the collateral damage, of Georg Elser and within that there is a powerful lesson. Our world around us is still fighting. Evil forces still exist. Thus we should all watch this movie because there is so much we have yet to learn. A must see.

'Elser' deals with the famous failed attempt on Hitler's life, dated November 8, 1939. Taking place in a Munich beer hall, where the bomb's time setting missed Hitler with a margin of only 13 minutes. A true near-miss in world history.This well-made German film focuses on the psychology of the assassin, the German Georg Elser. And for this director Oliver Hirschbiegel uses a highly original method: showing flash-backs about Elser's life with high frequency, while at the same time continuity & balance is provided by a female voice, telling Elser's story.Using this method, Hirschbiegel succeeds to picture Elser's personality convincingly. Making 'Elser' to a film worth watching.