Valkyrie

[EAS_Intrepid]

A few days ago the movie was released to German cinemas. Even beforehand it sparked major controversy in Germany over the main character of the movie, Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, Oberst (=Colonel) of the Nazi-German "Wehrmacht".

Since the movie is an American one, it was released earlier in the US. I just wanted to know if anyone has seen "Valkyrie" already and if yes, what do you think about the movie.

I think a debate about the historical background of the movie is also in order.

If you want to know more about the real events, I guess wikipedia is a good source to start:
Valkyrie

 

[Creed]

haven't seen it but heard some good things about the other actors.. apparently little shorty Cruise is overshadowed in mroe wasy than one...

tell us more about the controversy?

 

[Cylon]

i saw it last weekend.
It was oretty good mostly but moved a bit slowly at the start.
Also since you knew Hitler wasnt dead that slightly ditracted from it as you knew they wouldnt succeed

 

[EAS_Intrepid]

I still haven't seen the movie, but my girlfriend and me plan to see it sometime soon.

tell us more about the controversy?

First of all: Germans tend to discuss their history, especially the Nazi era, over and over and over and over... and if you ask me, it is a good thing. We are the strongest economical power in the European Union (along with UK and the French Republic) and that discussion also tends to slow down a certain economic imperialism.... well, whatever.

One part of the discussion was (is), ist that Tom Cruise is a big player of Scientology. In Germany, that "organization" is under surveillance by the "Bundesverfassungsschutz" and many offices of the "Landesverfassungsschutz".
Both are internal intelligence agencies, the first one on national, the latter ones on federal state level. Their monitor extremist activity inside Germany.
Scientology does not exactly have a good PR here... that is why many see Tom Cruise with big sceptisism.

Then it is the main protagonist of the movie itself: Stauffenberg.
Germans are not too sure what they can be proud of. Our own armed forces ("Bundeswehr") have a hard time getting good PR, especially due to the current mission in Afghanistan and on the Somalian coast.
However:
One the one hand, Stauffenberg is seen as a national hero, for trying to kill Hitler and supposedly wanting to end the war (I come to that in a minute). For them he is one of those heroes within the armed forces that resisted Hitler. A wide civilian resistance against the Austrian (!!! Hitler was not German) dictator is acknowledged, yet only few military personalities are known to have acted against the Nazi regime.
On the other hand Stauffenberg was not really a democrat. Actually, he wanted to kill Hitler to end the war against the US and Britain and continue to fight the Soviets. Additionally, he was an Anti-Semite. He still hated Jews and I don't think that his goals really included stopping the deadly machinery of the concentration camps. (That part is widely ignored in the German media.)

Since the end of the war, Stauffenberg was a hero of the Armed Forces (of Western Germany. The Eastern part had their "brothers of the Red Army forces".) They wanted to maintain military tradition (which Germany has, wether it wants it or not! I can see that when I look at my own families' heritage.)

Third point is, that during the filming of the movie, people that were playing Wehrmacht soldiers got severly hurt due to accidents. Police found out, that these accident had their basis on lax safetly measures and regulations.

Plus: the movie is not a German one. Germans usually don't mind that a movie comes from the US of A, but in this case they wondered if an American can get an important part of German history right on the silver screen.

There are a couple of German movies themed with the Nazi regime:
- Downfall ("Der Untergang") about the last days in Mister Hitler's bunker.
- Sophie Scholl about a civilian resistance group
- Das Boot about a submarine crew in 1941
etc pp.


I hope I could give an insight on the issue...

 

[Muad'Dib]

From every account I've read the response has been greatly positive in Germany once the movie opened, particularly Singer's meticulous attention to detail.

This next part is not really a spoiler as it's not touched upon in the film however some might feel differently:

There was only one small issue reported by reviews which, isn't exactly negative, but something about Von Stauffenberg's character which was not included in the movie yet was a very important historical aspect of him as a person. This was that he was vehemtly and vocally opposed to the Jewish holocaust.

Every other aspect of the film itself has been very positive however from what I've read in professional reviews and from people who aren't automatically biased against the film because of Cruise himself. I really wanted to see it but it's already taken down here (It opened a long while back just as with the US mainland), so I have to wait for DVD.

Hope this helps somewhat...

 

[Eisenhower]

Downfall ("Der Untergang") about the last days in Mister Hitler's bunker.

I saw that movie a while back, good movie. Insanely accurate. Valkyrie was also a very good film as well.

 

[thunderfoot]

Von Stauffenberg was not the only German officer opposed to the Holocaust and other policies of the National Socialist party prior to and during WWII. There were more than just a few officers equally opposed to how the jews were treated and some of them are quite well known inside and outside of Germany. A great many people whom are not German tend to forget the first group of people Hitler and his cronies practiced their reign of terror on were Germans. Not just Jews either. Pretty much any organized group which was viewed as opposed to the policies of Hitler's gorvernment.

 

[Huet]

A great many people whom are not German tend to forget the first group of people Hitler and his cronies practiced their reign of terror on were Germans.

Just so you know, being a jew doesn't mean we can't be german (or british, in my case). I'm sure there are people in the world that believe Jewish germans (and polish-jews and so on) were the only ones targeted in the holocaust, but I haven't encountered any in my experience. It's well known they targeted their political rivals in the run up and after their election, as well as other "undesirables" (the poor & disabled, pretty much anyone who wasn't of a germanic heritage).


I for one haven't seen the film, not because it depicts nazis, but mostly because it has tom cruise . I just don't think he's that good of an actor anymore and I just can't get over the whole crazy cult thing, and most of his recent films have been serious flunks. If anyone recommends it I might give it a look, but otherwise not

 

[EAS_Intrepid]

Just a sidenote: Stauffenberg did not care about how the jews were treated. Letters written to friends and family indicate, that he followed the mainstream antisemitic "tendencies" of that time as much as a lot of other Wehrmacht officers.
The myth of a "clean Wehrmacht" is just that: a myth. They actively supported SS warcrimes and committed many more on both Eastern and Western fronts.

 

[thunderfoot]

Never said the Wehrmacht was "clean". One of their reasons for supporting the NASDAP in the first place was they foolishly thought they could somehow control them. More fools they. As to the anti semitism, that was very much prevalent everywhere else as well as Germany in the 1930s.

However, there were officers in the German Army who were opposed to Hitler's policies and there were Germans who were Jewish who were patriots. The whole thing has been skewed and skewed yet again by whomever was writing what book to prove whatever point they were making.

I can name at least one man who was opposed to the policies of Hitler.
General Adolph Galland.