Valkyrie (****)

Directed by: Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, X2, Superman Returns)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, Thomas Kretschmann, Kenneth Brannagh, Terence Stamp
Seen: January 30th 2009

**** Out of ****

Valkyrie tells of the last of 15 attempts by German citizens (soldiers) on the life of Adolf Hitler around the time of WWII. This particular attempt was orchestrated under Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise). And we all know from history that these men failed in their attempt, but that only makes the film that much more intriguing.

We set out with Major-General von Tresckow (Brannagh) and a colleague planting a bomb in a bottle of Contreau and handing it as a present to an officer accompanying Hitler from their command base, but they get news that the plane has landed safely, the bomb did not detonate, and the tension rises. Von Tresckow calls ahead, lets them know the gift was mistakenly packaged, and sets off to retrieve it immediately. If successful, they will live to plot and scheme another day, if not, they will be summarily executed.

The tension never lets off, and every single scene is crafted with a precision that amounts to the tensest experience I’ve ever had in just about any film I’ve seen. Bryan Singer has a handy tool to his disposal: even though everyone knows this plot failed, none of us actually know the exact way in which they failed, and thus we wait with baited breath for things to start unravelling, for that something to go wrong, and while it doesn’t happen, it keeps us right on the edge of our seats. And the adage that in war nothing ever goes according to plan does not make things any easier. I checked my watch at one stage, and was amazed that what felt like 20 to 30 minutes watching the movie was actually already an hour, that is how well the dialogue is crafted in every single scene, since the shooting doesn’t start until very late in the film, and even then it doesn’t last long.

Cruise does a magnificent job as von Stauffenberg. Some scenes in which he does not wear the eye patch, opting for a glass-eye instead, are reminiscent of Daniel Day-Lewis in The Gangs of New York – this looks every bit like he does not have his own eye (a small thing, I know, but still mightily impressive). Tom Cruise once again manages to disappear into one of his characters so completely that you do not really see Cruise, you see von Stauffenberg (for all those Cruise critics out there, get over it, he might be insane, but he’s a great actor).

All the other actors also give brilliant portrayals of their characters, Bill Nighy as the insecure General Olbricht, Tom Wilkinson as the power hungry General Fromm, even comedian Eddie Izzard as the reluctant General Fellgiebel. David Bamber definitely chills as Hitler himself, alluding at one point that people can’t be civilised if they don’t follow the music of Wagner, who wrote the Flight of the Valkyrie’s, Valkyrie being the name of Hitler’s contingency Operation in the case of his death. And to the question of how only American and British actors can portray Germans? This is handled right at the start of the film, with an extremely cheap, yet very effective little fix: Valkyrie starts with Cruise doing a voiceover in German, while he is writing in his journal, in German, with English subtitles. While he speaks, the German starts fading out, and English starts fading in over it, to a point where the subtitles disappear, and we now hear all dialogue in English, as if we have made a switch, and now actually understand German. I though this a deft little touch.

Valkyrie is an extremely impressive example of storytelling at its best, since the tension is never higher than at those times when you know exactly what is coming.