Well-told history lesson seeks to find latter-day audience

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2008)

I cannot decide what took more courage, the plot to assassinate German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in 1944 or Tom Cruise deciding to make this picture.
Cruise plays true life character Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the "good" German Wehrmacht officers who fights for his country, not his Fuhrer. It is certainly not one of his more romantic leading man roles, as he spends much of the movie in an eye patch and a pretty bad hairdo (even worse than his mop in "The Last Samurai").
Wounded in North Africa in 1943, he is transferred to Berlin and there falls in with other conspirators who seek to overthrow the National Socialist government and sue for peace with the Allies.
By this time, the war has definitely gone against Germany with the U.S., British and Russian forces closing in and with many believing that Hitler is mad, the only course in their minds is to eliminate him and try to save the nation.
Of course, this is not easy and other attempts have failed because of bad planning or faulty design. When von Stauffenberg becomes involved, however, things finally begin to move in a more positive direction.
Joining Major-General von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh, "Henry V"), General Olbricht (Bill Nighy, "Hot Fuzz") and civilian political outcast Ludwig Beck (Terrance Stamp, "Yes Man"), among others, von Stauffenberg organizes an assassination attempt on Hitler to take place at a bunker in July 1944.
The colonel suggests using the plan Operation Valkyrie, which involves the deployment of the Reserve Army to maintain order, to take control of the government after successfully assassinating Hitler.
This involves a complicated series of changing long-standing official orders, clever bureaucratic maneuvering and even attempting to get Hitler himself to give his final okay on the alterations.
While this is going on, Gen. Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson, "Batman Begins") is straddling the fence to see which side wins. And while just about everyone in this historical drama does a fine job, Wilkinson' character is especially cynical and diabolical.
Anyone who knows anything about World War II will realize the plot in July of 1944 failed, so I'm not giving anything away here, but why it did not work is discussed in great detail, as is what happened immediately afterward.
It also makes for a fine suspense movie in its own right and director Bryan Singer ("X-Men" films) is appropriately hands-off, letting the build up take the place of the foregone conclusion. This is far from the greatest film on the genre, and will certainly not earn the box office that many of Cruise's other efforts have attained, but it should be seen for its historical take and fine performances, if nothing else.
It may take some individuals a little time to get used to Tom Cruise with the eye patch, but the movie should be experienced by younger audiences who may not know the full, true story.