“God promised Abraham that he would not destroy Sodom if he could find ten righteous men… I have a feeling that for Germany it may come down to one.”

‘Valkyrie’ was the fifteenth and final attempt on Hitler’s life from German opposition. Within a year of the failed attempt, Hitler had committed suicide. His demise at his own hand being fairly common knowledge, many only casually familiar with WW2 (or even entirely unfamiliar, as we move further into the 21st century and the number of living veterans approaches zero) have no knowledge of the Valkyrie mission. Bryan Singer’s film, starring Tom Cruise and a solid supporting cast, tries to remain historically accurate¹ while keeping the film compelling even when we know from the beginning that the plot will fail. There are a few glaring flaws, but the grand production, steady pacing, and tense interactions keep the pulse up for a large part of the runtime.

The plot was massive, involving a bomb to kill Hitler planted by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise), followed by the reserve army taking over control of Berlin. Because the assassination attempt failed, the filmmakers have to work to keep us invested in the fate of the characters rather than the result of their mission. To that end, the film goes to great lengths to differentiate the different characters (who all appear very similar as they are all in military uniform), their status and rank, and their role in the plot. Kenneth Branagh stands out as Henning von Tresckow, a Major General who first sneaks a bomb onto Hitler’s plane, and, when it fails to go off, risks his life to retrieve it and cover the tracks. Terrence Stamp,² Eddie Izzard, Billy Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson are all solid in their roles as well.

Cruise is understated as the steady, one-armed, half-blind colonel. At the start of the film, he delivers a few lines in German before switching to unaccented English; and this is where I scoff a bit. I understand that an American audience is much more likely to watch a film that is in English and starring Tom Cruise than to watch a foreign production starring unknown German actors. But this entire film is people speaking in English when in reality they were speaking German. Maybe it would have sounded worse for the actors to speak with German accents rather than what they did, but they went to such great lengths to make it feel authentic (such as filming on location) that it seems a letdown to have all these British and American actors in the parts of German soldiers (Christian Berkel, who is German, isn’t even allowed to speak in a German accent). Contrasted with Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds from the following year, Valkyrie seems limp and lifeless.

One of the most interesting things about the story is how easily the plot was defeated. The plot involved using Hitler’s Valkyrie plan—which utilized the reserves to defend Berlin in the event of an Allied assault—to immobilize the SS and take over the government. And the plan was working, even with Hitler suffering no more than some light bruising and burning, until the reserve army commander heard his voice on the telephone. “Do you recognize my voice?” he says. And that kills the plot immediately. Even though so much of the plan had already been enacted, with Hitler still alive, the soldiers followed through on their oath to him. All of the members of the plot, even Colonel General Fromm (Wilkinson), who tried to play both sides and cover his tracks, were executed for their treasonous actions.

The film is very compelling to watch if you don’t know how the plot will fail. There are several tense encounters where you are led to believe Hitler or one of those loyal to him suspect and are about to blow the whole thing. But it doesn’t seem to offer much value for rewatching as there is not a lot of subtlety and it plays out as a straight thriller, never getting deeper than a good guys vs. bad guys story dressed up in WW2 paraphernalia. It would have elevated the film considerably to have digressions regarding Hitler’s rise to power, his popular support, or how he incited the genocide that these soldiers were fighting against.³ It is no doubt an interesting bit of history, and one that isn’t widely known; but Hitler’s cause of death is well known, which saps much of the tension from the film. Since the film never gets deeper than a surface level reading of the choices made, it is probably just as thrilling to read the account as to watch a reenactment. But that takes more effort. Amidst an abundance of great World War II films, Valkyrie fails to stand out.

1. There seem to have been several artistic liberties taken in order to condense the plot to fit within the two hour runtime. For instance, it was Fabian von Schlabrendorff (not Henning von Tresckow) who smuggled the rigged bottles of Cointreau onto Hitler’s plane and retrieved them the next day (and he had to go to the Wolf’s Lair to get them). He was arrested and tortured after the failed Valkyrie plot, but survived the war and wrote several books on the subject.

2. An interesting bit of trivia is that Stamp actually lived through the bombing of London during WW2, and his conversations with Singer informed the scene where Stauffenberg’s family hides in their basement during a bombing.

3. The documentary series The World At War (1973) offers a lot of interesting background for those interested in a more in depth look at WW2 in the medium of film. Night and Fog (1956) is another gruesome look at the atrocities that occurred and partly incited the plot shown in Valkyrie.

Sources:
Vespe, Eric. “Bryan Singer and Quint talk Nazis, Tom Cruise, Terrence Stamp, VALKYRIE plus an update on SUPERMAN!!!”. Ain’t It Cool News. 11 December 2008.