Failed Heros Recognized: A Tour-de-Force Film About Fallen Heros -- The Film Is Its Own Valkyries, Raising Fallen Heros

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2009)

The word "Walküre" (aka Valkyrie in English) comes from German composer Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walküre", the third installment of his fantasy cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung". In Wagner's "The Ring", the Valkyries were winged maidens who fly to battlefields to raise fallen heroes and take them to the great sanctuary of Valhalla. Walküre was also the code-name for a military operation created by the German-Nazi regime to be enacted if Adolf Hitler suddenly died. Although the film itself refers to the word in the latter sense as a military-coup operation, the film is also a referendum on the fallen heroes who lost their lives trying to save Germany. "Valkyrie" the film becomes the Valkyries of these fallen heroes.
Certainly, when we think of the heroes of World War II, our minds conjure images of Roosevelt, Churchill, Patton, Eisenhower and Montgomery. But aside from the political leaders and military commanders, many civilians and lower-ranking military officers were involved in resistance movements in both France and Germany who wanted Hitler stopped. These people, many whose names have been lost to history, risked their lives to undermine the German-Nazi Regime that not only occupied many European countries but began persecuting and executing innocent people. "Valkyrie", starring Tom Cruise in his best role since "Jerry Maguire", Kenneth Branaugh ("Henry V" by Shakespeare), and a host of notable supporting talent including Terence Stamp (General Zod of "Superman" I and II), and Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton"), documents the last but most elaborate plot to assassinate Hitler before Germany and Austria would be devastated by the allied forces. And also save the remaining lives of people dying in concentration camps. They wanted to demonstrate that not all German citizens, both military and civilian, approved of Hitler's vision of Germany that included such inhumane intolerance.
The assassination and coup attempt was headed by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise), a decorated military officer who was loyal to Germany but detested Hitler's strategy and ultimately his "final solution" persecution of innocent civilians. Many of the events as portrayed in the movie actually occurred. When Stauffenberg loses a few limbs and an eye after one of his last military campaigns, he is seduced into joining a band of conspirators made up of high-ranking military and civilian personnel. The conspirators simply want to assassinate Hitler, but Stauffenberg points out that an assassination is not enough. A detailed military coup needs to be enacted, otherwise the highest-ranking members of the SS would simply take over the government where Hitler left off and continue the dictatorship.
Among the many detailed plans in the German Government is an operation known as Walküre (aka Valkyrie in English), a detailed military strategy that outlines how the government would continue in the event of the death of Adolf Hitler. Since Hitler was absolute dictator during the Nazi Regime, there were no constitutional guidelines for succession and/or transfer of power. The conspirators who want to oust Hitler through assassination decide to use the military's own plan to take control of the the government before the SS.
The film chronicles the debates between the conspirators, the assassination plan, and then the plan itself. The only minor criticism of the film is occasionally the conspirators are shown discussing their plots, sometimes only a room away from the Führer himself! Knowing that conspirators were often plotting, the German-Nazi regime would constantly watch and survey anyone and everyone for even the slightest inkling of disloyalty. Even those who were innocent but did not report suspicions quickly enough to authorities could find themselves under arrest. However, at other moments, the conspirators use coded language to indicate their intentions which seem much more realistic.
Overall an outstanding and compelling film that keeps you on the edge of your seat. One of the best films in recent memory, a tragic but honorable subject. The film details relatively accurately the actions of a small group of people willing to risk their lives to stand up to Hitler and show the world that not everyone in Germany would kill or be killed without question or pause. This film is for those people outside the allied forces who tried to right a terrible wrong. They lost the coup and their lives, but ultimately they won.