Who would true valour see

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2009)

"Valkyrie" tells the story of the July 20th plot, the attempt by a group of German military officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler, to overthrow the Nazi regime and to bring an end to World War II. The title refers to Operation Valkyrie, which was originally a contingency plan by the Nazis to use the "Ersatzheer", or Reserve Army, to put down any civil unrest in Berlin. The plotters came up with the audacious idea of using this plan to further their own aims; after Hitler's death they would announce that he had been murdered by radical elements in the SS who intended to seize power for themselves, and would put "Operation Valkyrie" into effect to thwart this supposed conspiracy, ordering the Reserve Army to arrest SS and Party members. In other words, soldiers loyal to Hitler would be tricked into carrying out an anti-Nazi coup in the belief that they were suppressing an anti-Nazi coup.
Tom Cruise stars as Claus Von Stauffenberg. Von Stauffenberg, who only held the rank of Colonel, was not the actual leader of the German Resistance- that was General Ludwig Beck, who would have become President of Germany had the plot succeeded. Indeed, Von Stauffenberg was a late recruit to the movement, which he did not join until 1943. Nevertheless, he quickly became a key member; he was the man who had the idea of using the "Valkyrie" plans to overthrow Nazi rule and the man who was to carry out the assassination attempt on Hitler.
Historians have debated the motives of Von Stauffenberg and the other conspirators, but in this film he is depicted as a hero, a man disgusted by Nazi atrocities and by the way in which Hitler had dragged Germany into a brutal war of conquest and destruction. Cruise's casting caused some controversy, partly because of his adherence to the Church of Scientology, but also because some doubted whether he was the right actor to play a German national hero. I think that here those doubts are laid to rest. Cruise can at times be a twitchy, hyperactive actor, but here (as in "Eyes Wide Shut") his acting is much more calm and restrained; Von Stauffenberg emerges as a figure of true moral stature as well as unquestioned courage. To my mind this is Cruise's best film to date, better than "Rain Man" or "A Few Good Men", better even than "Eyes Wide Shut".
Many of the other leading roles are taken by British actors. Kenneth Branagh plays General Henning Von Tresckow, the man who recruited Von Stauffenberg into the movement and who made an earlier, unsuccessful, attempt to kill Hitler by planting a bomb on board his aircraft. Bill Nighy portrays General Friedrich Olbricht, shown here as decent and honourable man, but fatally indecisive; he delays putting "Valkyrie" into operation by several hours while waiting for official confirmation of Hitler's death, a delay that damaged the conspiracy's chance of success. Tom Wilkinson plays the treacherous General Friedrich Fromm who attempted to run with both sides; although he knew about the conspiracy in advance he refused to join it on July 20, claiming to be loyal to the Nazi regime. Fromm's treachery was to do him no good; he was eventually executed as a traitor for failing to disclose the plot to the authorities.
In form the film is a political thriller, which might be thought to prompt one vital question: how can one make a thriller about a real-life event, the outcome of which will already be known to the audience? We all know, of course, that Hitler survived the attempt on his life, that the plot to overthrow the Nazis ended in failure and that the war in Europe was to drag on for nearly another year, at a cost of millions more lives. The answer is that most thrillers, even those based on fictional stories, are highly predictable; we generally know that the good guys will win and the bad guys will get their come-uppance, but that does not necessarily spoil our enjoyment. So it is with "Valkyrie", except that this is a thriller where we know that, ultimately, the bad guys will win. Nevertheless, director Bryan Singer is able to create so much tension that there actually comes a point where we can almost believe that Von Stauffenberg and his colleagues will win, that what thought we knew about history is mistaken and that the war in Europe really did end in 1944 after the Nazi regime was overthrown in a coup.
This film is something of a departure for Singer; I previously knew him best as the director of "The Usual Suspects" and of superhero movies such as "Superman Returns" and the X-Men franchise. Nevertheless, his move into historical drama has been a highly successful one. In my view "Valkyrie" must be one of the best films of 2008. It combines superb acting with a tense, thrilling plot, an intelligent script, a moral theme and an unforgettable portrayal of true heroism. I am surprised that it has not received any Oscar nominations, unlike that other (and in my opinion greatly inferior) Nazi-themed drama "The Reader". It should be required viewing for the regrettably large number of Britons who still persist in believing that all wartime Germans were Nazi fanatics. 10/10