Valkyrie

Tom Cruise’s new movie, “Valkyrie,” deeply troubled me. It left me with a question that has concerned Christians for over sixty years: why didn’t God allow the bunker assassination to work? It would have saved millions of lives, and the Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, as well as the Gulf wars, might never have happened. Why did God permit such a monster as Adolf Hitler to survive the bomb? Why didn’t He allow the assassination attempt to be successful?

I guess I’ll have to go back and read some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings from prison.

The movie was excellent and the intensity of the conspiracy was totally captivating. The plot to kill Hitler was carefully laid out and the actors who portrayed their historical characters were tremendous. If ever an Oscar was created for Best Cast in a movie, it would be this one. The Press have focused upon Tom Cruise and his eye patch, but the supporting cast make the movie suspenseful and utterly believable.

You know how it is all going to end, but it doesn’t stop you from rooting for the conspirators. There are even a couple of scenes that portray what would have happened if the plot had been successful. However, history is not about what if, but about what occurred.

Tom Cruise plays his usual intense role, but I don’t think it’s an Oscar winning performance. He is more than ably assisted by a blockbuster cast – Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson.

Nazi Germany is depicted in a ‘comfortable’ way, which makes the atrocities that Hitler and his henchmen committed so horrendous. Instead of the usual tyrannical dictator, Hitler comes across as a benign grandfather, who is looking after his people. The one chilling moment for me in the movie occurs when Hitler calmly broadcasts over the radio that he is alive and still in control. It comes across as a friendly fireside chat and reminded me that evil is at its most wicked when it appears to be most comforting.

Documentaries about the movie have the cast talking about the execution scenes as being highly charged and very emotional for the actors. If so, this never transpired on the big screen. It all felt very stoic and routinely Prussian. I think I would have liked to have seen more about the trials, rather than concentrating on a firing squad.

Over all, I’d give the movie four stars out of five. Now where did I put my copy of Bonhoeffer’s ‘Letters and Papers from Prison’?

Official Movie Site: http://valkyrie.unitedartists.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSy96KB7Dh4