13 Days, 13 Nights: In the Hell of Kabul

This film was made possible by Joe Biden’s gross negligence and utter dereliction of duty. Even the French thought his incompetent surrender of Afghanistan was a disaster. That’s pretty bad. They also thought their Frenchness would earn them some slack from the new Taliban masters, but they too endured a harrowing evacuation. Hollywood might still be ignoring the national trauma of 2021, but French filmmaker Marti Bourboulon (of the Three Musketeers duology) gambled by adapting French Security Attache Mohamed “Mo” Bida’s memoir of the hasty exfiltration. Apparently, France did not embrace it, but maybe the film will find a second life in the USA with the recent theatrical and VOD release of Bourboulon’s 13 Days, 13 Nights: In the Hell of Kabul.

Things are already pretty much in a shambles when the film opens. Partly, that is because Bida has the remaining embassy staff burning and smashing everything they can’t take with them. The streets aren’t safe, but he briefly steps out to pick up Sediqi, a good friend who served in the fallen government’s intelligence service. Obviously, he is on the Taliban’s death list, as the stab wound in his stomach attests.

Getting him to the embassy is not exactly easy, but evacuating him, along with other vouched-for asylum-seekers will be even harder. To get them from the barricaded embassy to the besieged Kabul Airport, Bida will have to improvise. While the Ambassador and the national government in Paris dither, Bida assumes authority, deciding to beg forgiveness later, rather than waiting on permission. However, he needs help from Eva, a Franco-Afghan NGO staffer, to translate, even though the armed Taliban patrolling the streets automatically consider her “unclean.” Of course, we know only too well their convoy won’t necessarily be safe, even if they successfully enter the airport grounds.

Bourboulon vividly and viscerally recreates the fear and chaos of the Kabul streets. He never whitewashes the violent nature of the Taliban, or their misogyny. Every checkpoint and gunpoint pull-over becomes a white-knuckle nightmare. Yet, it is important to watch these scenes to understand the character of the regime we allowed back into power. (Yes, Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban at the end of his first term, but Biden repudiated every other Trump policy. Yet, this one was sacrosanct? Regardless, his watch, his responsibility.)

U.S. audiences should be prepared for the appearance of late Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee (one of thirteen American military service members murdered at the Abbey Gate bombing) as a minor character. Bourboulon and thesp Athena Strates present her in a respectful manner. Nevertheless, these scenes might be a bit of a shock for her family and comrades.

In fact, some of Roschdy Zem’s most memorable work, in a uniformly excellent performance, is with Strates. Indeed, he successfully combines action cred, world-weary cynicism, and a deeply humanistic sensitivity in his portrayal of Bida. Likewise, Lyna Khoudri convincingly projects a sense of fully understanding what it means to be a woman in a country dominated by the Taliban. However, Sidse Babett Knudsen never fully sells her character Kate’s quick morph from bull-in-a-China-shop journalist to desperate sanctuary-seeker.

Although running nearly a full two hours, Bourboulon’s film is tight and tense. That tension steadily escalates with each successive scene. It certainly casts a negative light on American political and military leaders at the time, but it really doesn’t do any favors for their French counterparts either. Honestly, we need to examine films like this to avoid similar disasters in he future. It also happens to be very well crafted cinema. Painful to watch but still highly recommended, 13 Days, 13 Nights is now playing in LA at the Monica Film Center.