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In 1917, 3 uneducated children said said that the Mother of Jesus had appeared to them, and had told them God would work a great miracle on October 13th. On that day, 70,000 rain-soaked people saw the sun burst throught the clouds and start to spin, throwing a kaleidscope of colors over the ground. Then, to their wonder and terror, the sun appeared to jump and dance in the sky, and finally to fall towards the earth. After several minutes the downward spiral stopped, and the sun returned to its normal position and appearance. As the crowd recovered from this scare, they began to notice that their clothing was now bone dry. Skeptical journalists who had come to report on nothing more than the anger of disappointed wonder-seekers instead published accounts of a miracle that can still be found on microfilm in city libraries. There have been several films made on the events of Fatima. One is a 1950s Hollywood spectacle done in the tradition of The Song of Bernadette. Not bad, but a tad too Hollywood, with a made up starring character to provide (I guess) comic relief. In 1992, a documentary-type re-enactment titled "Apparitions At Fatima" was produced in Europe. Very accurate, but lacking decent special effects, and, as Steve Greydnaus has said, not compelling as cinematic art. The 13th Day leaves surpasses these earlier efforts. Directors Ian and Dominic Higgins were illustrators before the were film makers, and it shows. Evert shot of The13th Day could be framed and hang on a wall. Most of the movie is done in black and white--color only blooms across the screen during each apparition. The absence of color makes the more primal light and darkness jump out at the viewer. The miracle of the sun scenes match eyewitness descriptions more accurately than any other movie version. And here's a first: the vision of the "third secret"(that involved Pope John Paul II) is depicted on film for the first time. Now, keep in mind this is NOT a documentary. To keep the film a manageable length, the Angel apparitions of 1916 were not dealt with, and only four of the six apparitions are depicted. In the scenes where an older (Sister) Lucia is writing her memoirs, the voiceover narration is not word for word quotes from her writing, but rather the script writer's way of introducing each set of events in the film. Another criticism: the character of Lucia as protrayed in the film is a more introverted, taciturn person than the Lucia of history. But The 13th day is overall very true to the events, the spirit, and above all the message of Fatima. And the film is a thing of beauty.