The thing wrong with this flick is that we all know that Hitler was never assassinated (though few may realise there were around 20 unsuccessful attempts). Hitler took his own life in the comfort of his own bunker when the damage was fully unleashed and the Russian Red Army (Russia lost 20 million in WWII) were sniffing for him around the courtyards of Berlin.
Singer could have done a much better job. Many of the scenes looked rather too clean and empty to me. It was World War II after all.
I would have liked the same grit we see when Cruise/von Stauffenberg gets blown up in the beginning, when he plants the bomb. We should smell the chemical fuse eating through, see a bead of perspiration form on Cruise' immaculate forehead.
That said, this is a valuable flick, worth the watch, even if only to realise the sheer futility, the utter waste that war is. Entire fields of good men, bad men - all men - are laid to waste, cut down like wheat, because of the hubris of a few (mad) men. It seems we can never learn this lesson - that war is a bad, dumb, wasteful idea (ALWAYS) - enough. Every few years Presidents forget it anew, and we let them.
For more, read:
How did the good Germans elect Hitler?
There are no discernibly nasty Nazis in “Valkyrie,” though Hitler and Goebbels skulk about in a few scenes, shooting dark, ominous looks at the heroic German Army officer played by Tom Cruise. Perhaps they’re wondering what this Hollywood megastar is doing in their midst, a sentiment that you may come to share while watching Mr. Cruise — who gives a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor — strut about as one of history’s more enigmatic players.
It’s a war that offers moral absolutes (Nazis are evil) and narratives (Nazis are evil and should die) that seem easier to grasp than any current conflict. Truly, World War II has become the moviemaker’s gift that keeps on giving, whether you want it to or not. |
