Valkyrie is a World War II thriller depicting the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler–the 15th and last known attempt by the Germans. The film appropriately ends with a quote from the German Resistance Memorial in Berlin.

The film is one of two films that I’m watching on Tisha B’Av. While the film is getting a new Blu-ray printing in late September, there are no special features. It’s a shame because the original Blu-ray release is full of them! Unfortunately, the sound mix is so awful that I decided to borrow it through Hoopla instead. At first, I thought it was missing the sound altogether. Even though the Blu-ray features 5.1 Dolby Surround, anyone watching on Blu-ray will have to crank up the volume well north of 50 just to hear anything!

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is stationed in Tunisia at the start of the film. It’s not too long before he becomes discouraged by Nazi Germany’s future under Hitler. Of course, he’s not in Tunisia for much longer after he suffers multiple injuries when his battalion falls under attack. Upon returning, he becomes one of the key personnel planning to take back Germany through Operation Valkyrie. Named for the Richard Wagner tune, the national emergency plan was to be implemented in case of a civil breakdown or foreign laborer uprising. General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), Major General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh), and Colonel von Stauffenberg made their own modifications. Under their plan, they would takes cities back, disarm the SS and arrest Nazi leadership. Other German Resistance members included General Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp), Dr. Carl Goerdeler (Kevin R. McNally), and Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben (David Schofield).

von Stauffenberg’s position as Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army put him in the same room as Hitler. As such, he had no problem hiding weapons and placing them in the room. Things were looking well–a bomb went off without a hitch and von Stauffenberg was on his way. Unfortunately, Hitler survives the attempt and things would soon go sour only upon the issuance of arrest orders for both Dr. Joseph Goebbels (Harvey Friedman) and von Stauffenberg. Everyone involved in the plans would soon be arrested or dead or both. While the known German attempts resulted in failure, Hitler would end up killing himself nine months later with the allies surrounding Berlin.

The casting of Cruise and his Scientology beliefs did lead to some controversy in Germany.  Filmmakers were able to overcome this and get access to key locations. It did help that there were German newspapers and filmmakers supporting the filming because of spreading awareness. On that account, it definitely did. It might not be a masterpiece but Valkyrie‘s 2008 release was the first time I heard about the plot. We have co-writer Christopher McQuarrie to thank for much of this. His 2002 visit to Berlin for one project would lead to researching von Stauffenberg.

One thing that does distract filmgoers in watching the film: so many German people speaking almost perfectly English. Obviously Singer’s not going for a docu-drama here but it still takes away something from authenticity. In other aspects of the film, they do aim for authenticity because of filming at the actual locations. In other instances, the recreated key locations to the best of their ability. The filmmakers make slight changes but hey, that’s the thing with Hollywood and taking creative license.

Valkyrie could be a stronger thriller but where it succeeds is in spreading awareness of the German Resistance.

DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer
SCREENWRITERS: Christopher McQuarrie & Nathan Alexander
CAST: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Thomas Kretschmann, and Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard, Kevin R. McNally, Jamie Parker, Christian Berkel, David Bamber, Tom Hollander, David Schofield, Kenneth Cranham, Halina Reijn, Werner Daehn

MGM released Valkyrie in theaters on December 25, 2008. Grade: 3.5/5

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