Valkyrie

Valkyrie – 2008

 ***½ Out of ****

            Of all the Nazi centred and holocaust themed movies featured this year, Valkyrie is the first to be a straight-up thriller, and succeeds in draining every ounce of tension that could be wrung from its story.

          Stellar ensemble casts seem to be a staple of 2008 films, from the Dark Knight, to Tropic Thunder to a slew of Oscar contenders.  Director Bryan Singer latest film boasts one of the best supporting casts of this or any other year but in addition, lacks what the others thrive upon, a fantastic lead.  That is by no means to say that mega-star Tom Cruise is bad in his role, or even calls attention to himself as a prominent actor, just that he simply seems flat when contrasted with his co-stars.

          Valkyrie recalls the July 20^th (and final) assassination plot of Adolf Hitler at his remote bunker known as the Wolf’s Lair.  Not only is the story itself an interesting one, but the way it unfolds on screen will leave you gnawing your knuckles to the bone.  While obvious liberties were taken to make the film accessible to a wider audience, the events are never glossed over or overtly compromised.  The result as a whole is simply engrossing and even with the conclusion known you pray that the plan will succeed.  Simply put, it is one of the year’s very best thrillers.

          All eyes have been on Singer’s heavily scrutinized decision to allow all the actors to speak in their native tongues, and accents.  The reasoning being that if they were not to speak German, then they would not be speaking accented English, and thusly should not attempt any other trickery.  The best solution would have obviously been to cast German actors, and have the movie subtitled, which of course would have meant a box office flop.  The result is still effective, and with the story itself as interesting as it is, you’re sure not to even notice.

          Following a horrible injury after an airplane attack in Tanzania, Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) has lost his faith in the war, and any reminiscent respect or duty to the Nazi’s.  Gracefully slipped hints of a plot to end the war before Europe was placed in ruin by General Henning von Treskow (Kenneth Branagh) and General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), Stauffenberg and his growing team of conspirators recruit General Fromm (Tom Wilkinson) as the last piece of the puzzle.  Following Hitler’s death, operation Valkyrie was to be put in effect which would call in the reserve army in Berlin to take control of the city.  Spreading propaganda of SS involvement in Hitler’s death, the reserves would arrest all high ranking officials of Hitler’s army and place Berlin in a state of lockdown.  The conspirators would then place Hitler’s successor in charge and force the war to and end. 

          The conspiracy unfolds at a brisk but not breakneck pace, with plenty of time for audiences to mull over the ploy and admire Singer’s fantastic camera work.  Visually, Valkyrie is one of the year’s best, with authentic costumes, sets and vivid but gritty direction.  Valkyrie treds a delicate line and succeeds, by both humanizing its heroes and Germany as a country but never giving sympathy to the Nazi’s or those on the side of evil.  Both tragic and haunting but ultimately inspiring, be sure not to miss this WWII thriller over the holiday for both great entertainment and to grab a glimpse of an important story of true courage and hope’s triumph in the darkest times.