A movie was recently released that introduced audiences to one of the more interesting pieces of World War II history.

“Valkyrie” is a historical thriller set in Nazi Germany that depicts the failed July 20, 1944, plot by a group of German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler. (It was only one of 17 planned attempts.) Tom Cruise stars as German Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the movie’s main character and one of the leaders of the assassination attempt.

The film opens with von Stauffenberg in Africa. He is badly injured; his right hand and two fingers on his left have been amputated, and he has completely lost his left eye. Stauffenberg realizes that the only way Germany will ever recover from this war is for Hitler to be assassinated.

The colonel eventually joins the German Resistance and becomes part of the assassination attempt against Hitler, which the group hopes will allow them to take control of the country and make peace with the Allies. He helps conceive Operation Valkyrie, a plan that would implement a shadow government in the event of the Führer’s death.

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Re “Cruise ‘distractingly bad’ in Valkyrie” (Review,Dec. 26) –

I think that The Examiner has perpetrated a howling injustice by printing, without comment, Christy Lemire’s unsympathetic review of the movie Valkyrie, now showing at the Galaxy Theatres in Peterborough. Ms. Lemire evidently has it in for the American actor, Tom Cruise, who plays the part of Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, the principle actor in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Cruise bears an uncanny physical resemblance to the real Stauffenberg (though he is not as tall).

Ms. Lemire bemoans the fact that Cruise’s “hard, flat American accent” causes him to stand out in every scene. I disagree. I could detect only one or two instances where Cruise’s American accent was noticeable; now and then it almost mirrored, as mine often does, that of the English actors taking the part of the Germans in the movie.

Cruise does not have the dramatic talent of some of the English actors in the movie, nor is he convincing as a German nobleman, but he gives a resoundingly creditable performance as the ill-fated Stauffenberg. Ms. Lemire writes that, “We never get a sense of the inner conflict, of the doubt he may have felt in betraying his duties. . .”

The film begins with a mass recitation in German of the Duty of the German Soldier, in which every member of the armed forces must swear fealty to the German Vaterland, though during Hitler’s reign, he had to swear fealty to the Fuhrer. The film depicts the treasonable actions of German officers who had sworn this oath. If Ms. Lemire can think of a greater source of underlying tension, more power to her.

If Cruise did not agonize enough to suit Ms. Lemire, perhaps the words of Nina von Stauffenberg, describing her husband, taken from her daughter’s biography of her mother, give a clue to the person Cruise was portraying. “He let things come to him, then made up his mind. . .”

The film is faithful to the story in every respect. It is worth seeing, not only as a historical record, and I will revisit it, perhaps more than once. If Cruise can be faulted for his portrayal of von Stauffenberg, it is not through any lack of sincerity on his part. One has only to see him in the pre-film interview to understand that. He was not just acting.

(Source: The Peterborough Examiner)

Forget the love-struck Scientologist ― for a couple of hours at least. In “Valkyrie,” Tom Cruise casts off his notoriety and even the Hollywood action star glitz of his better days as a serious, likeable hero rising against Hitler.

This is not another Tinseltown World War II flick. Perhaps the only commonality the film shares with its predecessors is the finely crafted music (though not including Wagner’s namesake opera). It also opts for distinct visuals, and the color palette stays away from the usual shocking red sea of Nazi banners. The effect is stark and simple yet effective, like the narrative itself.

“The Usual Suspects” partners Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie reconstruct past events into a gripping, modern classic, and not even the potpourri of American, British and German tongues mars its incredible believability.

“Adolf Hitler is dead.” On July 20, 1944, the Fuhrer’s life is threatened by another assassination plot. In trust is treason, however: the perpetrators are none other than high-ranking German officers who want to “show the world that not all Germans are like Hitler.”

Cruise loses an eye, a hand and two fingers as the patriotic Col. von Stauffenberg, who is troubled by Hitler’s dictatorship. He joins a secret group of military men and civilians who are scheming to stage a coup to overthrow the government and save Germany and Europe.

Von Stauffenberg ingeniously plots to utilize Operation Valkyrie, Hitler’s back up plan for the Reserve Army to protect the Nazi regime against serious threats (such as his death). Little did the Fuhrer know that his Chief of Staff von Stauffenberg and Gen. Olbricht were slowly turning the safety blanket into an elaborate coup. These inside men orchestrate the perfect plan made complete with planting bombs in the heart of Nazi headquarters.

Cruise stands at the center of the story and serves as the emotional plug for the viewer. He is the quintessential hero who lightly leaps over moral dilemmas and physical disabilities, made all the more amiable as the loving husband and father. This traditional formula works without feeling too cliched, as the film displays top British talent, including Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard, who also add depth to the characters.

A character-propelled narrative is the film’s forte, and as such, the tightrope-walking suspense lies in the power of individual choice and action, both big and small. Tension lurks in tasteful measures: fleeting glances become purposeful and mundane events like shaving one’s beard grow unnerving.

History shows that Operation Valkyrie failed miserably. The high points of suspense lie thus in the careful planning of the assassination. Nevertheless, even the sense of doom and futility that permeates the latter half tactically draws the audience into the film and its characters. As von Stauffenberg, oblivious of Hitler’s survival, pushes on with the failed plan, the audience can watch in awe as small choices and actions move an entire city back and forth.

The only regret perhaps is that von Stauffenberg’s wife, who passed away in 2006, did not survive to see the movie honoring her late husband.

(Source: Korea Times)

Director Bryan Singer has succeeded in bringing out an appreciable fusion of history and conspiracy in this thriller. An appealing dramatization of a historic episode and exceptional performances by the international cast, supporting Cruise – Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard, Bill Nighy and Kenneth Branagh – has resulted in a story that would fascinate the audiences!

(Source: TopNews)

The tight World War II thriller “Valkyrie” lugs a steamer trunk full of undeserved baggage: producer/star Tom Cruise’s celebrity meltdown, chatter about a rough production, speculation about accents. There’s also the ridiculous cultural expectation that every WWII movie since “Saving Private Ryan” has to be some kind of Oscar-baiting Important Statement About War.

I hope gossip-choked moviegoers can see past all that because it has nothing to do with what matters: the story onscreen. “Valkyrie” works as intended: as a taut, unpretentious and unapologetically old-school WWII flick where the accents are all over the place and you’re too caught up to notice.

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