13 Minutes

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Oliver Hirschbiegel directs. Judith Kaufmann behind the camera. David Holmes scores. Alexander Dittner cuts. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 11 years ago.
• 2Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, shot by Judith Kaufmann. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by David Holmes. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Alexander Dittner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Christian Friedel and Katharina Schüttler and Burghart Klaußner carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "This man could have changed history".
• 7IMDB entry: tt1708135 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Judith Kaufmann

Original score

David Holmes

Editing

Alexander Dittner

Production design

Benedikt Herforth

Costume design

Bettina Marx

Makeup / hair

Tatjana Krauskopf

VFX supervisor

Jörn Großhans

Sound

Andy Kennedy

Runtime

114 min · 1h 54m

Status

Released

Box office

$1,328,233

Original language

DE

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

13 Minutes (2015) ↗

Also by

Oliver Hirschbiegel

• 
  Downfall

  2004 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Billions

  2016 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Baby Rex - Der kleine Kommissar

  1997 · ★ 7.7
• 
  The Experiment

  2001 · ★ 7.4
• 
  Borgia

  2011 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Inspector Rex

  1994 · ★ 7.2

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  13 Minutes Official Trailer 1 (2017) - Christian Friedel Movie

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  13 MINUTES - UK Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• tmdb280390232022-08-27
  ★ 1/10

  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.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• PH

  Philipp Filmproduction

• 

  Lucky Bird Pictures

  DE

• DE

  Delphi Medien

• 

  ARD

  DE

Key crew

• ProducerFred Breinersdorfer
• ProducerBoris Ausserer
• ProducerOliver Schündler
• EditorAlexander Dittner
• CastingAn Dorthe Braker
• Art DirectionChristine Caspari
• Art DirectionMarion Foradori
• Art DirectionThomas Neudorfer
• Production DesignBenedikt Herforth
• Production DesignThomas Stammer
• Set DecorationDaniele Drobny
• Supervising Art DirectorAstrid Poeschke
• Special Effects SupervisorDirk Lange
• VFX EditorJonas Kluger
• VFX SupervisorJuri Stanossek
• Visual Effects CoordinatorMarina Winter
• Visual Effects CoordinatorAlexander Wlk
• Visual Effects ProducerSimone Fischer
• Visual Effects ProducerHeiko Burkardsmaier
• Visual Effects SupervisorJörn Großhans
• Visual Effects SupervisorUrs Franzen
• Still PhotographerBernd Schuller
• GafferTimm Brückner
• Dialogue EditorMagda Habernickel

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• assassin
• nazi
• bomb
• world war ii

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2017-01-12R· Palm Springs International Film Festival
• Theatrical2017-06-30R

Also known as

International titles

• Thirteen MinutesUS
• Un héros ordinaireFR
• 13 MinutesGB
• Τα 13 λεπτά που δεν άλλαξαν την ιστορίαGR
• 13 MinutesHR
• 13 minutos para matar a HitlerES
• 엘저KR
• Elser - Er hätte die Welt verändertDE
• Georg Elser - Es muss sein!DE
• Elser Er haette die Welt veraendertDE
• 埃尔塞：将近改变世界的人CN
• 13 minuts per matar a HitlerES