a serious attempt to make a serious film about a serious subject

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2013)

I recently reviewed the made for TV movie The Plot to Kill Hitler. This is the same story, but with a bigger budget. In the cheaper film the actors attempted German accents. In this one, mostly they don't. On balance I think this film has the better attitude but David Bamber does play Hitler with an English-German accent; this is not as good as Mike Gwilym in the TV movie with his bizarre Welsh-German accent. Hitler here is a little dispirited charisma-free man, and I don't find that portrayal convincing.
Stauffenberg is played here by Tom Cruise. Well, what can we say? He gives it his best shot. Apparently, Cruise was attracted to the role after seeing a picture of Stauffenberg, and noticing how similar he looked. He maybe missed the fact that Stauffenberg was 6 feet 3!
There is a strong British contingent here, all with strong British accents: Nighy, Izzard, Branagh, Stamp, Wilkinson, McNally, Parker. You do get used to it. Well, almost. Bill Nighy should leave serious drama alone. He's just too naturally funny.
Anyway, apart from the actors, the settings and production values are first rate: costumes, direction, music all faultless. And this is a serious attempt to make a serious film about a serious subject. As such it should be applauded. Sometimes the motivation is the important point rather than the sum total of all that is accomplished.