New Film ’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’ Relives The Attack And Ignites Political Debate


From director Michael Bay, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” is the story of six elite ex-military operators assigned to protect the CIA, who fought back against overwhelming odds, when terrorists attacked a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya on September 11, 2012. The film is based on the nonfiction book “13 Hours” by New York Times bestselling author Mitchell Zuckoff and members of the Annex Security Team. It promises to tell the true story of the horrid events that led to the death of four Americans during the 13 hours from the beginning of the attack to the escape.

The film is a two and a half hour roller coaster, skillfully keeping tensions high all the way through. The moment-to-moment pressure within a sometimes blurry storyline conveys the fear and adrenaline rush of being in a war zone, while the film’s vibrant colors and sweaty close-ups draws us right into the grit. There’s no shortage of car crashes, explosions, fires, guns and testosterone. However, the characters, though extremely well played, are not given much depth, and essentially the story is a heroic tale in the form of a male melodrama. The one female character is told they need her eyes and ears but not her mouth, although she’s finally accepted after proving herself, by bringing one of the heroes cookies and snacks in the middle of the gunfire. For women in the Central Intelligence Agency’s sake, one might hope this is not an entirely truthfully painted picture.

David Constable in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Screen shot from trailer .
David Constable in “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”. Screen shot from trailer.

However accurate “13 Hours” conveys what happened during the attack, the background is still murky. NY Times reported:

“Benghazi was not infiltrated by Al Qaeda, but nonetheless contained grave local threats to American interests. The attack does not appear to have been meticulously planned, but neither was it spontaneous or without warning signs.”

It’s also unclear who holds responsibility for the orders given at the compound. One of the contractors, John “Tig” Tiegen, was asked if the orders came from “above”, referring to the Obama administration, but he said it didn’t.

“I mean, the stand down order, it came from the chief of base.”

Hillary Clinton was secretary of state when the attack took place, and has been criticized by Republicans, who view the attack as a result of her mismanagement of the situation. As reported by NY Times, she has since accepted general responsibility for security at the compound, but the specific decisions about its protection are said to have been made by her department’s security professionals. Still, Donald Trump went so far as distorting Hillary Clinton’s involvement by overlaying an image of her laughing on top of footage of the attack, as previously reported by Liberal America.

Screen shot from 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi trailer
Screen shot from “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” trailer.


So while “13 Hours” claims a non-political standpoint, and has included touching footage of Libyans holding notes apologizing that this is not the usual behavior of their people, the film has been praised by right wing media such as Fox News and Weekly Standard and is likely to become an igniter of the debate flaring up again. Stephen L. Miller recently pointed out in a National Review article on the film:

“Ultimately, how well 13 Hours performs at the box office will be a deciding factor in how much, as pro-Clinton media like to declare, this is all behind [Hillary Clinton]. Nine hours of little-followed testimony on C-SPAN 3 is completely different from a major motion-picture release, and the rabid success of American Sniper (released the same time last year), along with the outrage over the Obama administration’s snub of Chris and Taya Kyle, could very well be a hint at what’s to come.”

And we’ll find out soon how well the film performs, as it’s opening in theaters on Friday, January 15, 2016.

The film will be released in the US on January 15, 2016. Watch the trailer here: