In Dr. Story’s discussion on “The Cold War: The Big Picture,” geographic confrontation appeared to be one of the key points in the Cold War conflict. Geographic confrontations consist of either the US or the Soviets sponsoring one side of a certain conflict. This support consisted of money, arms and ammunition. Sometimes, one side would go fight against the other sides’ proxy; an example of this is the Korean War where the US fought the North Koreans. The Cuban Missile Crisis can be classified as a geographic confrontation because the United States was prepared to consider war to keep Soviet missiles out of Cuba.
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962 and lasted for thirteen days, hence the name of the film. The conflict arose when the Soviets placed Medium Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBM) in Cuba. An MRBM can fire up to 1,000 miles and can hit anything on the eastern seaboard of the United States within five minutes of their launch. The film depicts the tension and fear after hearing that the missiles were being set up and the negotiations over how the US should retaliate. It exemplifies the United States’ insecurity with the presence of Russian missiles in Cuba. The movie shows the many sides to the argument and the negotiations over how to respond to this action. The film also mentions the Bay of Pigs incident, which preceded the missile crisis, where the CIA attempted to remove Fidel Castro and his communist regime from power in Cuba but failed.
The film also does a good job of portraying the Soviet standpoint. The United States had nuclear missiles positioned in Turkey that threatened the Soviets. The film discusses the role that the US’ missiles in Turkey played in negotiations to get the Soviets to remove their missiles from Cuba.
The film portrays the Cuban Missile Crisis from the point of view of an American official. The movie portrays the suspense, the lack of sleep and the conflicts within each side. The problem with the film is that Robert Kennedy, the attorney general at the time, wrote the book that this film portrays. Obviously, he tries to portray President Kennedy, his brother, in a heroic manner, not a Soviet official. Overall this film was excellent and is entertaining on an educational, as well as, dramatic level.
