"Valkyrie" was the code name for the most daring plot by a German resistance group to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944. For the generation that lived and suffered through World War II, getting rid of the Nazi tyrant offered a ray of hope to end five years of staggering deaths and destruction.
The decision by United Artists to produce this story promised to educate the public in detail about the assassination plot, about the severe constraints encountered by the anti-Nazi opposition, and about the persons who persisted in it. Regrettably, the film fulfilled those expectations only partially. The film critics, who obviously did not live through the 1930s and 1940s, judged "Valkyrie" for its attraction as an “entertaining flick” or a “breathtaking thriller” showcasing a “Nazi” colonel.
The plot’s central figure could hardly be called a Nazi. He was Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, 36 years old, a practicing Roman Catholic, and severely handicapped. During a British air attack in Tunisia, he had lost his left eye, his right hand, and the fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand. After his recuperation from his wounds, like-minded Hitler opponents in the German army found him a position at headquarters in Berlin.
From September 1943 on, Stauffenberg and several fellow conspirators became the driving force in developing several successive plans to assassinate the dictator. They failed mostly because of Hitler’s unpredictable movements. The colonel was quoted as saying "Let's be blunt, I am committing high treason,” but he justified his treason under the Christian natural law tradition that required him to save millions of lives from Hitler’s war and war crimes.
After the loss of several hundred thousand men in the battle of Stalingrad, it became obvious that Hitler could not win his war, given the overwhelming Allied material superiority. Hope spread throughout Nazi-occupied Europe that U.S. and British bombers, as they devastated German cities one by one, would soon also eradicate Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg in East Prussia. With Hitler gone, it appeared likely that whoever succeeded him would have to seek an end to the escalating bloodbath. For whatever reasons, however, the Allies left Hitler’s well-known hideouts untouched to the bitter end.
So Stauffenberg decided to take the removal of the tyrant upon himself. He managed to get into a briefing session for Hitler at his headquarters and place a bomb hidden in a briefcase as close to him as possible. But when the bomb exploded, Hitler was shielded from the blast by the heavy, solid-oak conference table and was wounded only slightly. Had the dictator been killed, the war might have been shortened by up to nine months and millions of lives saved on both sides.
The film version of project “Valkyrie” tells the essential aspects of the assassination plot but fails to offer a clear story line through the many convoluted action details. The first-time viewer also finds it difficult to distinguish between at least a dozen officers, co-conspirators and non-conspirators, with whom Stauffenberg found himself interacting.
At first glance, “Valkyrie” viewers may find it difficult to distinguish Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg from Tom Cruise, the Hollywood character known for his off-screen antics. Yet, Cruise’s profile bears an amazing resemblance to Stauffenberg. If one can separate the actor’s public persona from his on-screen performance, one will find that he has what it takes to reenact a tragic hero far removed from any other role he ever played.