Valkyrie – History rehashed
Valkyrie – History rehashed
Rated: PG-13 Time: 2:00
Stars: Terrance Stamp, Tom Cruise, Bill Nighly and others
Final Grade: C+
Summary: First, a history lesson. On July 21, 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg was executed. On July 20 he had lead a long planned attempt to kill Hitler and return power of Germany to civilian control from the Nazi’s. Presuming that his attempt to kill Hitler had succeeded, Von Stauffenberg initiated Valkyrie, which was an recently modified operational contingency plan, which allowed for the securing of Berlin should communications be cut off. The attempted assassination failed and von Stauffenberg and many of the leaders of the coup were rounded up and summarily executed.
Von Stauffenberg was born November 15, 1907 to a family of German aristocracy and well educated. This guy was no dummy and had roots deep in German and Prussian nobility. He had held various positions and ranks in the German army until reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1943 and then station in the tank for in North Africa. His wife and three children did survive the war. One of his sons became a General in the German military and the other son a member of parliament. You can read more about von Staufeenberg at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_von_Stauffenberg.
Our movie starts, after an attempt to assassinate Hitler fails, in North Africa with the German Tank Corp and one Colonel von Stauffenberg(Cruise). While carrying on a conversation with a superior about how Hitler is failing Germany his position is bombed and strafed by allied aircraft. In the raid, he loses an eye, hand and some fingers. This finds him unfit for fighting on the line but gets his butt kicked upstairs to Berlin where he’s again recruited by a group attempting to kill Hitler.
Von Stauffenberg joins this group and is soon leading a plan to kill the furher. For this plan to work and the power grip of command to be broken and replaced, he will have to implement Valkyrie.
The movie follows the historical record fairly accurately. Von Stauffenberg plants his one bomb which detonates as planned. He incorrectly presumes that Hitler is dead. In fact, shielded by a large wooden leg structure of the table, Hitler’s only slightly injured and really pissed off. Returning to Berlin and Valkyrie implementation already underway, von Stauffenberg takes the lead with a few other of the group and soon has the ruling power structure of Germany at that time on the arrested or on the run. His success is very short lived as Hitler returns to the airways personally assuring Germany he’s alive and still running the show.
Shortly after, the tables quickly turn on von Staufenberg and allies. They’re arrested and most are quickly shot. Hitler just didn’t have much of a sense of humor for treason back then, and justice was very quick.
Even though this movie is of a historical event, it’s got a lot of good action and dialog and a nice plot line, if you’ll pardon the pun. But I have to wonder why this is coming to the silver screen now? What importance does a failed resistance operation 9 months before Hitler’s eventual presumed suicide have in 2008 enough to make a feature film of it? Is it because of von Stauffenberg’s attempts at righting Nazi Germany? Is it because we needed another flick during the Christmas season?
This film is rated PG-13 for good reason. It’s about the horrors of war and little minds will learn about that soon enough. They don’t need inoculation about that during Christmas.
Frankly, this movie reminds me of a TV special on the same topic I saw many years ago as a kid. The story line really hasn’t changed much since then. I suppose for World War II buffs that enjoy movies of that era, this will be a hit. It’s a nice action flick, but the bad thing is, most of us already know the story and the punch line. So, there’s really little suspense. But you could be watching far worse this weekend…
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand.
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