A Film Review of Valkyrie with

Recommendations for Classroom Use and

Further Study
By Jeremy Zauder
Valkyrie
U.S.A. / Germany, 2008
Director: Bryan Singer
Languages: English, German [subtitles available in other
languages]
Valkyrie, the 2008 film directed by Bryan Singer, is a deftly executed
historical thriller that succeeds in faithfully depicting an attempt to
assassinate Adolf Hitler and implement a coup of the German
government. Focused almost exclusively around the conspirators and
the events of July 20th, 1944, the movie condenses or glosses over
background and motivation, as dramatic movies must, to maintain the
forward momentum of the story. This article will attempt to illuminate
some of the subtext that can complement discussions of Valkyrie by
using the film as a lens through which we can view history.
The opening of the film establishes some historical context and the
tone of the story. The title Walkre appears in German and morphs
into the English title Valkyrie. Against a Nazi flag we read the text of
the Hitler oath, swearing German soldiers unconditional obedience

to Adolf Hitler. A voiceover by the central character, Colonel Claus von

Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise), begins in German and changes into
Cruises American-accented English. From this point forward, all the
dialogue will be in English. Some viewers found the language
distracting (most of the actors use their natural British accent) but this
Hollywood film made the right choices to appeal to the widest possible
audiences.
It is April of 1943. Stationed in Tunisia, Stauffenberg writes in his
journal, The Fhrers promises of peace and prosperity have fallen by
the wayside leaving in their wake a path of destruction. The outrages
committed by Hitlers SS are a stain on the honor of the German army.
There is widespread disgust in the officer corps toward the crimes
committed by the Nazis, the murder of civilians, the torture and
starvation of prisoners, the mass execution of Jews. My duty as an
officer is no longer to save my country, but to save human lives. I
cannot find one general in a position to confront Hitler with the
courage to do it.
Stauffenberg directs some adjustments to the desert operation to
bring home the German soldiers safely, and is strafed by aircraft fire,
resulting in the loss of an eye, a lower arm, and some fingers. The
movie implies that Stauffenbergs motivation for joining the conspiracy
lie not in the fact that he was injured while serving, which would be a
personal revenge, but in his own moral code (duty to Germany and

humanity, not to Hitler). It should be noted that Stauffenberg did not

actually witness the atrocities of the Holocaust, except the starvation
of Russian prisoners of war; his fictionalized journal entry adequately
conveys his moral outrage and his position in the war effort. It is
difficult to pinpoint his motives in the historical record, but the
character in the film acts decisively in a heroic manner.
German resistance to Nazi policy through 1938 consisted of disparate
groups of varying ideologies, who rarely made contact with each
other. They succeeded mostly symbolically or with modest triumphs
such as the clandestine endeavors of underground networks and
individuals later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. There
were fifteen attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler from 1939 until his
suicide in 1945. The events portrayed in Valkyrie in 1944 are the final
concerted efforts of the group most likely to achieve a complete
upheaval of government: high-ranking officials from the Wehrmacht
(Armed Forces), the Foreign Office, and the Abwehr (Military
Intelligence) who orchestrated their opposition to the regime from
within the German state apparatus.
After a few unsuccessful attempts, Colonel Hans Oster rebuilt the
secret resistance network from within his Office of Military Intelligence.
General Friedrich Olbricht, head of the Army General Office, and
General Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh) fail to blow up an airplane with
Hitler on board (as depicted in the movie), and Tresckow recruits the

willing Stauffenberg to lead the plot to assassinate the Fhrer.

Eliminating Hitler would hopefully allow the conspirators to negotiate
better truce terms with the Allies. By 1944, the resistance group is at
the height of its potential power, but they know that time is running
out. The conditions are ripe for a coup, but it is no easy task. The
German armys victories in Czechoslovakia and France, and Hitlers
ensuing popularity with the German people made it more difficult to
remove him from power. When the United States entered the war
(December, 1941) as Russian territory was being invaded, many
officers felt that Germany would ultimately lose, but how could the war
end without the Soviets gaining control of Europe? These are just a
few of the complications that the secret resistance had to contend
with; Stauffenberg in the film is surprised to learn that the conspirators
have not readied a post-assassination political plan for a new
government, even at that late stage.
Stauffenberg was the right man for the job; his strategies, direct
approaches, and resolve moved the conspirators forward from
philosophy into their final play (and dramatically drive the films plot
forward toward the third act). The central portion of the film involves
various discussions and maneuverings: Who can be trusted? How can
the mission be pulled off? Who is willing to sacrifice their life and their
families for Germany? Some history is alluded to by the presence of
central personalities at meetings of the resistance, but students will

only go deeper than the films surface by researching the fascinating

biographies and careers of these real-life spies, war heroes, and
traitors. One conspirator portrayed in the film, Carl Goerdeler, seems
to be a composite of his historical personage and some Catholic
resistance members who objected to the murder of Hitler on ethical
grounds. The movie conveys an atmosphere of deadly secrets and
paranoia; the music perhaps overemphasizes feelings of dread and
disgust when the character of Adolf Hitler is on the screen.
Stauffenberg transported a briefcase bomb into a bunker where Hitler
and his staff were meeting. The bomb exploded, and Stauffenberg,
believing that Hitler was dead, mobilized everyone at his command to
implement Operation Valkyrie, which would allow the civilian army
(controlled by the conspirators) to wrest control of the government
from the other executive departments and armed forces. Ludwig
Becks (Terence Stamp) ominous warning proves itself: This is a
military operation. Nothing ever goes according to plan.
Time was wasted since the explosion, communications were spotty at
crucial moments, and hours later the truth was out: Hitler was alive
and the conspirators were to be arrested. A few of the plotters,
including Stauffenberg, were rounded up and executed by firing
squad. Stauffenbergs assistant valiantly tries to block the shooters but
is gunned down as well. Arrests, executions, and show trials of
German civilians continued for months afterward until Hitler finally

brought down his regime by committing suicide. Even General Erwin

Rommel, who may have been partial to the resistance, was persuaded
to secretly commit suicide and receive a state military funeral rather
than face the indignity of rank-stripping accusations.
The conspiracy failed but it was daring nonetheless. As Tresckow
states, We have to show the world that not all of us are like him.
Otherwise, this will always be Hitler's Germany. There is no room in
the movie to discuss the movements of history after the denouement
of the story, but it can lead to interesting discussions in the classroom.
The conspirators were at first neglected in postwar Germanys
collective consciousness, or even thought of as traitors, but the
governments that followed eventually rediscovered their past and
vaunted the fallen plotters status. Today, one can visit memorials,
museums, and statues in honor of their resistance, which is now
viewed as a noble and ethical foundation of a democratic state.
How ethical were the conspirators? Should they be considered
heroes? Questions about the characters morals can lead to
dialogues about dilemmas a key topic when addressing the
Holocaust or genocide.Valkyrie presents Nazi officers as the main
characters in a setting in which unprecedented large-scale mass
murder is only mentioned briefly in Stauffenbergs voiceover at the
beginning of the film; the Holocaust is in the background. The
conspirators are clearly part of the Nazi regime, with knowledge about

SS war crimes (to say the least), but their portrayal (in the film and in
history) make them something less than perpetrators while their
actions make them something more than bystanders. That moral gray
area is fascinating to discuss, and the filmmakers either ignore it or
expect audiences to glean more from Tom Cruises performance than
perhaps he could deliver in the films theatrical cut. It is interesting to
compare Valkyrie with Schindlers List in terms of presentation of the
Holocaust, heroic motivation, and specific scenes grounded in
emotion. Spielbergs film contains moments of quiet power in which
we can feel Schindlers emotions roiling and moral compass
fluctuating.
Valkyrie may also be used in high school classrooms to engage
students in the subject of German resistance, or at least interest them
by dramatizing the climactic event in a history full of intrigue and what
if exercises. The film contains only a handful of obscene words to
which educators may object. Teachers should be prepared to delve
into questions of Stauffenbergs motivation and his aristocratic
background. Some see him as a mythical hero; others see him as
representative of outdated political philosophies. Students may wish to
research and debate the issue of what kind of Germany the
conspirators wished for after the coup. Academic studies of German
resistance are only now gaining wider recognition after the movies
success, and the subject contains multitudes of aspects to consider.

Bibliography

Boeselager, Philipp von. Valkyrie: the Plot to Kill Hitler. London:

Weidenfeld & Nicholson. 2008. A personal memoir by one of the
conspirators.

Fest, Joachim. Plotting Hitler's Death: The Story of German

Resistance. Holt Paperbacks. 1997. ISBN 978-080-505648-8

Galante, Pierre. Operation Valkyrie. Harper and Row, 1981,

ISBN 0060380020

Gisevius, Hans Bernd, Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot

to Kill Hitler, 2009 reprint of one volume abridgement of two
volume text, To the Bitter End, 1947. Foreword by Allen Welsh
Dulles, introduction by Peter Hoffmann. Translated by Richard
and Clara Winston; Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN
978-0-306-81771-7

Hoffmann, Peter. The History of the German Resistance, 1933

1945. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-77-3515313

Jones, Nigel. Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to

Assassinate Hitler. Frontline, 2009

Moorhouse, Roger. Killing Hitler, Jonathan Cape, 2006. ISBN

0-224-07121-1

Pemberton, Jacob. 20 Juli: The Politics of a Coup. From Ex Post

Facto, Journal of the History Students at San Fransisco State
University. Volume XI, 2002