If you like military films, this one is top-notch, with some terrific reproductions of German aircraft. The story opens with von Stauffenberg stationed in North Africa with the Afrikakorps, reflecting in his journal how he'd like to do something about Hitler. (Not a safe thing for a German officer to write in his journal, but it says volumes about who von Stauffenberg was.) When his unit is attacked by Allied planes, von Stauffenberg ends up in a military hospital missing one hand, two fingers and an eye. From there he is moved to Berlin, where he is recruited by a ring of conspirators out to assassinate Hitler and establish a new government.

It doesn't take long for the Colonel to take over the operation: he's a strong leader, exuding active commitment, integrity, moral courage and - if I may extrapolate - faith. How he manages to get into the confidence of Hitler and almost pull off the greatest coups in history is remarkable. Through this film, we get a very authentic view of what those who opposed Hitler were doing behind the scenes in Nazi Germany in 1944. Interestingly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was the spiritual leader for this group, though, regretfully, he does not appear as one of the characters.

Every aspect of this production is superb, including the special effects and action sequences, and particularly the explosion designed to kill Hitler in his secret headquarters, known as Wolf's Lair. The performances are top-drawer. Besides Cruise, who never seems to age and for whom this is the perfect vehicle, I was especially impressed with Bill Nighy (Pirates Of The Caribbean), who plays General Friedrich Olbricht, the main officer in cahoots with von Stauffenberg; Tom Wilkinson (Batman Begins), who plays General Friedrich Fromm, the officer in charge of initiating Valkyrie; Dutch actress Carice van Houten as von Stauffenberg's wife, Nina; and German actor Thomas Kretschmann (Eichmann, King Kong) as Major Otto Ernst Remer, the officer in charge of carrying out Valkyrie.

I wasn't especially taken by Kenneth Branagh's portrayal of Major-General Henning von Tresckow, von Stauffenberg's predecessor in the assassination plot, even though Branagh gets second billing to Cruise; nor did I like David Bamber's version of Adolf Hitler (a difficult character to play) - he seems too old, weak and vulnerable to be the leader of the Third Reich. Historians will have to decide if that was accurate. On the other hand, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard and Kevin McNally render their characters well as fellow conspirators.

Just a word about three common criticisms of the film that I have heard. The first is that Valkyrie doesn't deal with the Holocaust. That's because it isn't about the Holocaust - a myopic criticism. The second is that the actors didn't use German accents. That's because everyone in the film is German. German's don't have accents to each other. The only reason for using accents in a film is when there are other nationalities involved, and you're wanting to differentiate between them - an idiotic criticism. The third is that Cruise wasn't a good choice for von Stauffenberg. Actually, he was the perfect choice. Not only does he look exactly like von Stauffenberg, he probably has his personality. If all Cruise had done was play Cruise, he would have been perfect - a prejudiced criticism. All of these criticisms are unfounded.

This film is way, way overdue. We haven't seen nearly enough about the courage of the German people who tried to resist Hitler. I hope there will be many more to follow. Although I didn't count on Hollywood to do the right thing at Oscar time - they didn't - Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) deserved to be nominated for Best Director; Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander deserved the nomination for Best Screenplay; and all the production crew needed to be recognized for their outstanding work. Valkyrie is that good. But if you don't like war films or political thrillers, don't waste your time. This is filmmaking the old fashioned way, with story and acting taking center stage. They don't make them like this very often, so please don't miss this outstanding film.



Waitsel Smith, January 2, 2009

Text © 2009 Waitsel Smith. Images © 2008 United Artists. All Rights Reserved.