I will give them this: They certainly knew how to (over) throw a party.

Rating: 5/10 (29 January 2009)

We all know that film, in general, has its target audience to appeal to, but what I really do find interesting concerning Valkyrie is that with the twenty or so people in this particular cinema screening a large proportion here were aged above sixty-five years of age. It seems that this, Valkyrie, appeals to a larger spectrum of age, albeit for reasons known to only the individual cinemagoer: Star-name, action, drama, historical value et al. It seems apparent that this movie has far more reaching appeal than first appears. Here we have a film that centres on the attempted murder of Adolf Hitler during the latter part of WWII by his own Officers'. While Bryan Singers's film takes its part in this niche of German history, this film does not really carry itself in the manner of a war film but gives an air of historical drama.
This too would apply to the supporting cast. With the international feel of an American Cruise (Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg), the British Branagh (Major-General Henning von Tresckow), Nighy (General Friedrich Olbricht), Wilkinson (General Friedrich Fromm), Stamp (Ludwig Beck) and Izzard (General Erich Fellgiebel) then there is the German Democratic Republican Kretschmann (Major Otto Ernst Remer), who, when called upon, give fine, strong and respectable performances'. Even with this flavour, the focal point is strongly on the resistance of these German Officers'. The Soldier takes on the might of the domestic germ of Hitler's right hand men, repelling Hitler's German National Socialist Party black shirted members': the Nazis and his S.S. personal bodyguards' (the paramilitary organization founded in 1925 who administrated the use of the Death Camp) and their dishonourable actions which have brought upon the face of Germany through their genocides and methods of control shame, disgust and revulsion.
Here we have Germanys best, Germanys fighting men, men who have known at first hand the honour of the battlefield and what it is to make sacrifice for a willing cause, Bryan Singer has given us an interpretation into the birth, life and death of the 20 July plot of 1944. Putting names to faces, even those faces and locations here seen only for a brief, but important, moment, such as Berlins Police Chief Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorfq and the actual Bendlerstrasse (Bendlerblock) building, used as place of execution of the conspirators.
Both Mr. Singer and Mr. Newton Thomas Sigel (cinematographer) gives Operation Walküre (the use of Germanys Reserve Army (Heer), who at a time of national unrest, of any description, would be awoken to quash any sign of rebellion or unrest) an arena of a keen sense of drama and tension. Plotting the death of Adolf Hitler is no after thought. We see a tight band of top ranking Officers believing in a just course, any doubt, and fear, here is reflected in the eyes of those who try to better Germany, and visualising this is only second best to the fraught realities and dangers that we see these men re- enact. There is simply no room for complacency. The risk is too high. Failure is not an option. The pace is set.
The authenticity of its environment in which we are given a firsthand account is both charming in its uses of deep focus and a feeling of depth and perspective for the eye to muster gives the particular subjects' here the demeanour of what these men symbolises in both prestige and heritage and the scope and goals for all concerned.
Valkyrie is a tale of pride and honour. We shall possibly never know the real men involved here: their politics, their beliefs, their traits and as the parting of the wave of time may have been distorted or lost forever, it feels and looks all the part an historical document that may be taken with a light pinch of salt and enjoyed for what it is. An exposé of the men who once tried and failed in their part to target, to slay the beast and to finally bring peace to Europe. A fitting stance that, seemingly, appeals to all spectrum's' ages to appreciate, understand and respect.