Anticipating the Inevitable.

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2009)

I enjoyed this movie and I'm not sure why it's been given such a lukewarm reception by critics. Operation Valkyrie's had several previous treatments on TV and in movies, both fictionalized and documentary, by the Brits and the Germans, but this is probably the highest profile attempt yet. It's well made, with a strong script, good production values, appropriate music and a flawless roster of actors. In fact the cast practically amounts to a roll call of every decent, middle-aged, British male actor currently working, with a sprinkling of Americans and Germans thrown in for good measure. The real problem with the movie is that right from the beginning we know the inevitable, depressing outcome of the story, so it amounts to two hours of watching a juggernaut gather speed and momentum but knowing it will eventually plunge off a cliff into tragic oblivion. It's just a case of how it gets there.
I was raised on a constant stream of stories of WW2 (my parents survived the London Blitz and when I was born in the 1950s, WW2 was something still spoken of literally every day. It wasn't history, it was very recent daily life) so I approached Valkyrie with a sense of gloom at the tragic, known outcome - a plan to assassinate Hitler going horribly wrong and heading for disaster like a train heading for a pile up at the buffers while you stand there watching it happen, unable to intervene. But I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.
I think it's important that films like this are still made. WW2 happened in very recent history, but already too many people have quite forgotten about it; they have forgotten about Hitler, the Nazis, the Death Camps and the huge war that tore the world apart. Unfortunately I suspect it will be mostly people of my generation who go watch it. Of course no one nowadays is raised on stories of WW2 as I was, but nonetheless we shouldn't forget.
The Operation Valkyrie of the title, was a plan developed for the Reserve portion of the German Army and approved by Hitler himself. It was intended to be used in the event of a breakdown in law and order within Germany or the countries it occupied, a breakdown caused by Hitler's death or civil unrest. A group of officers who were a part of the German Resistance to Hitler, could see the way the war was heading, that Europe was being laid waste and Germany was losing, and they were also disturbed at aspects of Nazi rule - the Death Camps for instance and the killing of civilians  so they plotted to kill Hitler and utilize an amended Operation Valkyrie for their own ends to take control of the nation after Hitler's death and to negotiate a truce with the Allies. If it had worked, they would have used Hitler's own plan against him. But crucial to the plan was Hitler's death. The plot was aborted once, and when finally carried out in 1944, failed to kill its target. Poor communication, indecision on the part of some of the plotters and a late start in implementing Valkyrie led to complete failure and within hours all the plotters had been rounded up and executed.
The plot was lead by Colonel Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) who was put in charge of Valkyrie and made Chief of Staff to General Fromm, after being badly injured fighting in N. Africa . He had access to Hitler but was also to be vital in the follow up to the assassination, which  according to a source I read online  ruled out a suicide attack. Which was a pity, because as I watched this, I couldn't help pondering how much the course of history might have been changed had Stauffenberg chosen the current favored method of assassins, the suicide bomb. Had he got closer to Hitler at that fateful meeting and sacrificed himself, instead of leaving the bomb under a solidly built wooden table which helped shield the Fuehrer from the blast, the whole course of history since 1944 might have been different. Still, it wasn't to be. Hitler was dead anyway nine months later, committing suicide in his Berlin bunker as the Allies approached. Berlin was carved up amongst the Allies, the Death Camps were finally liberated and the Cold War began.
Tom Wilkinson plays General Fromm, who was commander of the Reserve Army, and the only person apart from Hitler who could put Operation Valkyrie into effect. He ordered the execution of Stauffenberg and the other plotters but was himself executed in 1945. Other plotters included General Olbricht (Bill Nighy), Colonel von Quirnheim (Christian Berkel), Lieutenant von Haeften (Jamie Parker), General Beck (Terence Stamp making a rare appearance as a goody) and Fellgiebel (comedian Eddie Izzard  an interesting piece of casting but very effective.) They are all excellent. The location shooting is perfect, often using the real life settings in Germany (for instance the plotters are executed by firing squad in the courtyard of the real Bendlerstrasse.) The lack of German accents (widely commented on) is quite appropriate. Given that everyone in the movie would have been speaking German, there is no need to give them distracting accents at all. The use of accents is really only necessary when the audience is expected to distinguish between several different nationalities in a movie.
As for Cruise, well I've always thought Tom Cruise a perfectly good actor. The problem is that his private life has become so high profile and the subject of so much speculation and even ridicule, that it's now hard to watch him playing a serious character on screen. Which is a pity. He will obviously bring an audience to this movie, but I can't honestly say that he brings much weight. Nonetheless it's well worth the investment of ten bucks and a couple of hours.