German WWII conspiracy lost in translation

Rating: 4/10 (4 May 2012)

I'll make it short. Any movie based on historical events has already lost most of its suspense from the outset. This movie is no different. However a strong performance by the Director and cast can make up for this. Valkyrie is based on one of many failed attempts to kill Hitler during WWII. Tom Cruise plays the main character and does so convincingly. All other actors (and mind you this is a star class of actors) play their parts very well.
What doesn't work and this is why I rate it the way I do, is the fact that almost all of the suspense is killed by the English language. It is the very essence of the menace of the Nazi regime and the very insidious image of Adolf Hitler that is now lost in translation. This movie would have been an A plus if it had used the German language and if that resulted in a few star actors having to be replaced by native German speakers, so be it. The Dutch actresses actually make it look somewhat authentic European, although their roles are too marginal to actually save the entire film.
This film might work for the US market, since they don't like subtitles but for the European market, it does not work even though the events depicted are part of the single most important era in European history (if not world history).