13 Years, 13 Minutes (2006)

Run Time - 55 min.  |   Countries - Poland  |  
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Synopsis by Jason Buchanan

Documentary filmmaker Marek Maldis explores the stories of two boys whose attempts to fight the communist regimes made them legends within their respective countries. June 26, 1956: Black Thursday. The first worker's rebellion against communist authorities in Poland was under way. Thirteen year old Romek Strzalkowski joined the protestors in the streets near UB political police headquarters, and would soon become the youngest victim of the rebellion. Historians debate the specifics of Strzalkowski's death to this very day, a fact that Maldis addresses by exploring the various possible means by which he could have been killed. That same year in Hungary, Peter Mansfeld would become the youngest victim of post-revolt communist uprisings in how own country. Mansfeld had previously taken part in the Budapest conflict, but when the Soviet army crushed the uprising in 1956 he refused to lay down his arms. Three years later, when a military group organized by Mansfeld fell into disarray, the underage boy was sentenced to death. The execution lasted an agonizing thirteen minutes, highlighting the brutality of the communist regime and prompting Mansfeld's Hungarian biographer to draw comparisons to Jesus death on the cross. Regardless of the tragedy that marked both boys' passages from this world, the fact remains that in death they would both become important symbols of perseverance to the people of their respective countries.