Good Account Of The Lead-Up To And The Aftermath Of The July 20 Plot Against Hitler

Rating: 8/10 (23 January 2010)

I have to give credit for a pretty detailed, largely step by step account, detailing the machinations leading up to the July 20, 1944 attempt by a group of Army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and seize power in Germany, as well as for offering much detail about the aftermath of the failed attempt, and the ultimate collapse of the coup. Beginning with Col. Claus von Stauffenberg being recruited into the group of conspirators, and ending with his execution, the movie revolves around him, and its title is taken from orders issued to the German Reserve Army to seize control of Berlin on Hitler's death ("Operation Valkyrie.")
If you are at all interested in this period of history (and why else watch this movie) you won't find anything particularly surprising in this, and there certainly isn't any suspense about the outcome. It's simply a pretty good documentation of it. The history is decent enough. I personally think that the movie exaggerated Stauffenberg's role in the coup attempt (and even more his authority over it.) Still, there's no doubt that he was an important figure and deserved to be centre-stage in this dramatization of it. Tom Cruise was an interesting choice to play Stauffenberg. He did well with the part, although Cruise as a German officer (even as an anti-Nazi German officer) was a bit of a stretch.
In a broad sense, the July 20 plot wasn't especially consequential. Hitler survived, the War went on and the conspirators were executed. Not a lot really changed because of this. The plot did, however, make it obvious to everyone (including the German people) that there was active opposition to Hitler at high levels. The reasons for the opposition were varied, but as much as we might like to think so had little to do with moral qualms about Hitler's or Nazi ideology, and almost everything to do with the belief that Hitler and the Nazis were leading Germany to destruction by mismanaging the war. So, was Stauffenberg the hero the movie makes him out to be? Hard to say, but he certainly deserves his place in history. 8/10