Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Review: Valkyrie (dir. Bryan Singer, 2008)

Review: Valkyrie (dir. Bryan Singer, 2008)

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 4:29 pm by Peter T. Chattaway

Review: Valkyrie (dir. Bryan Singer, 2008) 2014-06-05T16:29:53-07:00 Peter T. Chattaway

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

These days, it is impossible to watch a Tom Cruise movie without thinking of what it might mean to the movie star himself. Two years ago, his Mission: Impossible character got married, around the time Cruise himself got hitched to Katie Holmes. Then, after his antics on Oprah’s show and elsewhere got him in trouble with the media and with the powers that be at Paramount, forcing him to look for work elsewhere, he played a hotshot politician who criticizes a reporter to her face in Lions for Lambs and a foul-mouthed studio mogul who has zero sympathy for the people that work for him in Tropic Thunder. Now comes Valkyrie, the second film to be made by United Artists since Cruise took the reins at that struggling studio, and over the past year, thanks to constantly shifting release dates and rumours of reshoots, the film has acquired the reputation of a “troubled” production. It is tempting, then, to read an element of autobiography into the film, as Cruise plays a wounded German officer who is already unpopular with the Nazi high command when he joins in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler — a plot that we know is doomed to fail.

Cruise isn’t the only one whose career has been stumbling lately, though. Valkyrie is also the first film that director Bryan Singer has made since his Superman movie came out two years ago and failed to live up to many people’s expectations — and there is a sense in which Singer seems to be trying to get back to his roots, teaming up with screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie for the first time since their Oscar-winning breakthrough The Usual Suspects came out thirteen years ago. Like that film, this new film (which McQuarrie co-wrote with Nathan Alexander) involves several men who collaborate on a conspiracy — but this time, instead of a heist, they plan to murder one of the most powerful men alive, and to take over the nation that he leads. And instead of being a patchwork of lies and half-truths that is eventually pulled from under the audience’s feet, this story is all too true.

The film begins in North Africa, where Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) has been stationed, we gather, because he isn’t one of Hitler’s more enthusiastic officers. He is in the middle of discussing battle plans with a general — played by Bernard Hill, who asks “What would you have me do?” as though someone had handed him the script for The Lord of the Rings by mistake and asked him to play Theoden again — when Allied planes attack and leave Stauffenberg so wounded that, by the time he emerges from the hospital, he has lost an eye, a hand, and three fingers on the hand that remains. So he returns to Berlin and gets a desk job, where he worms his way into the upper ranks while plotting with his friends to bring the Fuhrer down.

It turns out that Stauffenberg’s friends have already tried on several occasions to assassinate Hitler, but their efforts have come to naught. And while these episodes have no doubt been massaged to produce as much cinematic tension as possible, much of what the film shows is true to life, at least in the basics, such as when Major-General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh) plants a bomb on Hitler’s plane that fails to go off. When Stauffenberg joins Tresckow’s group, however, he insists that they change their approach. It will not be enough to simply kill the Fuhrer, he says, since one of the equally loathsome members of Hitler’s inner circle will take over for him and keep running the country into the ground. Instead, the conspirators must figure out a way to seize control of the country itself, the moment Hitler has been killed.

Enter “Operation Valkyrie.” The Nazis, it turns out, have a plan to keep the country going in the event that an Allied attack should succeed in killing Hitler, so the conspirators decide that their best chance is to get the plan revised in their favor, and then to implement that plan after they have killed Hitler. But the plan can only be revised with the Fuhrer’s permission — and the Fuhrer can only be approached through other officers who may or may not be suspicious of the conspirators.

So begins a tense, complicated series of plots and tricks, and on a certain level, it is amazing to see just how close the conspirators came to pulling off their plan. Not only does Stauffenberg succeed in getting Hitler (David Bamber) to sign the revised contingency plans, he also manages, after a false start or two, to plant a bomb under the table in one of Hitler’s conference rooms. If you are any sort of history junkie, then you have probably known about the bomb under the table for years — but it is still somewhat startling to see this historical detail brought to life, and to see Hitler himself get lifted into the air, just like any other man, when the blast goes off.

As we know, however, the blast does not kill Hitler; it doesn’t even wound him all that badly. But Stauffenberg doesn’t know this — when he sees the debris from the explosion, he takes that as a sign of success, period — so he and his fellow conspirators go ahead with the rest of their plan, using their own German troops to seize control of Berlin. For a few hours, everything seems to be going their way — but we know it is only a matter of time before the truth catches up with them.

To Singer’s credit, the film is remarkably suspenseful, even though we know pretty much how it will end. And why not? The best movies work even when we see them a second or third time, knowing all that is going to happen, and Valkyrie certainly has a few moments that will make audience members gasp when they see it for the first time, at least. What the movie lacks is some of the zest, the zing, that we might expect from a film billed as the reunion of the minds behind The Usual Suspects.

Also, the film doesn’t seem to draw any larger theme or purpose from its story; it just presents the facts, more or less, and lets them sit there. Such an approach would be fine for, say, a TV-movie, and this is such a fascinating story that I’m glad it has been told at all. But what is the audience supposed to take away from it? In a classic movie like The Killing, for example, the downer ending is a cynical joke, a reminder that we humans aren’t in control of our lives even though we think we are. Other movies might play the failure of the conspirators as tragedy, to show how these would-be heroes were brought down by personal character flaws.

Valkyrie, on the other hand, just tells us what happened — and while it doesn’t make a big cosmic point, it does present two facts, almost in passing, that a Christian viewer might want to process. First, Stauffenberg is a devout Catholic, and more than once, Singer draws our attention to the cross he wears around his neck (along with the wedding ring for which there is no longer a finger to wear it). Second, when Hitler survives the attack, he tells the German people that it was Providence which saved him. So where was God when the conspirators laid their plans, and then suffered for their failure? The movie doesn’t pursue the question, but it deserves some credit for acknowledging the role that faith did play in this story.

3 stars (out of 4)

–

Talk About It
Discussion starters

1. Do you think it was morally appropriate to try to kill Adolf Hitler? Would it have been morally appropriate not to try to kill him? What reasons would you give? (Note: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, author of The Cost of Discipleship, was executed for his connection to the conspirators, though he is not depicted in the film.)

2. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg says early on that it is possible to serve Germany or the Fuhrer, but not both. Why does he say this? When have you had to choose between serving a community — a nation, a church, a school –and serving its leaders? How can you tell when a leader should be disobeyed? How does that line up with Romans 13:1-7?

3. Is it possible to see the hand of God in this story anywhere? How do you respond when people like Hitler claim that Providence seems to be on their side?

The Family Corner
For parents to consider

Valkyrie is rated PG-13 for violence (planes attack a military base, a bomb goes off in a conference room, several people are executed by firing squads, and so on) and brief strong language (a few four-letter words).

— A version of this review was first published at Christianity Today Movies.

christopher mcquarrie

Previous Post

December 23, 2008

Disney, Walden part ways on Dawn Treader

Next Post

December 24, 2008 Newsbites: The comics and heroes edition!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anglican Planet Articles BC Christian News BC Report Bible Movies Bible Review Blog Books & Culture Campus Times CBC Radio Christianity Today ChristianWeek Essays Faith Today Festival Cinemas Guide Film Journals Georgia Straight Interviews MB Herald National Catholic Register Salvationist Today's Christian Two Chairs Ubyssey Uncategorized Vancouver Courier Vancouver Sun

Select a Month August 2025 April 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 May 2024 February 2024 December 2023 May 2023 March 2023 November 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 January 2012 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 November 2003 October 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 March 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 December 2000 November 2000 October 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 March 2000 January 2000 October 1999 August 1999 May 1999 April 1999 February 1999 January 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 August 1998 July 1998 June 1998 April 1998 March 1998 January 1998 November 1997 September 1997 July 1997 June 1997 April 1997 March 1997 February 1997 January 1997 December 1996 October 1996 September 1996 June 1996 March 1996 February 1996 January 1996 April 1995 November 1994 September 1994 September 1991

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Zion" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Holy Place Promised Land Fortress City of God