VALKYRIE

Valkyrie is one of those stories that sounds made up, except for the fact that it really happened.

After a few days of contemplating, I figured out what made Tom Cruise’s performance in the Nazi thriller Valkyrie watchable. As usual, he gets to run around and bark orders and make out with at least one woman…. But… Aha! Cruise never smiles in Valkyrie. That cocky Tom Cruise grin that immediately reminds the audience that it is a Tom Cruise movie that you are watching is absent here. But funny enough, reigning in his charisma also makes him a duller actor than usual. Lucky for him, he’s working with a great director and a fine supporting cast, keeping things interesting.

Valkyrie is one of those stories that sounds made up, except for the fact that it really happened. On July 20, 1944 an assassination attempt was made on Adolf Hitler, as his grasp on the war was finally starting to crumble. What was fascinating about this attempt is that it came from within the German ranks, and was perpetrated and organized by high-ranking Nazi officers that were fed up with how Hitler was destroying the country that they were protecting. In fact, over a dozen attempts were made on Hitler’s life, but the July 20th event was the closest one to being a success.

Tom Cruise plays Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer that joins the resistance movement late in the game. Several attempts on Hitler’s life have been made already, one including a bomb (disguised as a gift of a bottle liqueur) that failed to discharge on Hitler’s plane. Von Stauffenberg knows that something has to be done, and soon. There’s no use in waiting, even though the war might be over soon. It will take a well-organized coup of the military, mobilizing ranks across the country and arresting top SS offers as soon as the assassination has been confirmed. All it takes is for Von Stauffenberg to get close enough to Hitler in a meeting to leave a briefcase of explosives.

Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie takes a complicated real plot and hones it to be somewhat understandable. With over 200 folks involved in this attempt, and with all the German names and military ranks, it often gets confusing as to who’s who, and what context they are in the big scheme of things. But Singer is directing a thriller, so he keeps up the pace, and ratchets up the tension.

Of course, we know how the story ends… if Hitler had been successfully assassinated, the world would have been a different place. Still it is a fascinating story, and I’m surprised that outside of Germany, there is not much known about this amazingly organized attempt.

DVD NOTES

The DVD of Valkyrie includes a feature commentary with Bryan Singer, Tom Cruise, and Christopher McQuarrie, and a second commentary with McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander.  "The Valkyrie Legacy" is worth watching; it’s a 45-minute documentary about the real folks involved in the history, includes original footage and photos, as well as interviews with children and grandchildren of some of the folks involved in the July 20, 1944 event. The featurette "The Journey to Valkyrie" is a behind the scenes doc about the movie production. Apparently much of the film was shot in the actual locations where the events occurred, including Bendlerblock (which is the site of the executions of the four officers as well as current resistance museum).