HOLLYWOOD HUES
Imperfect plot

Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie begins well but palls after the halfway mark, writes Ervell E. Menezes

THE subject of World War II and the Nazis has been a Hollywood favourite for decades and not surprisingly so because of the high percentage of Jews in the film industry and wanting to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. But recently the flow has turned into a trickle. The latest effort is Valkyrie, which deals with the attempt on the life of Hitler in the Wolf’s Lair near Stuttgart.

Valkyrie is the code name for the operation to eliminate Hitler and is so called after the Wagnerian opera of the same name. This incident too has figured in Hollywood films before. Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) does well to recreate that depressing, gloomy Nazi ambience and Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) makes a good entry because he does not speak too much. It is action, in which he is grievously wounded in Africa that takes precedence. Cruise, however, is too short and puny for a German, a glorious case of miscasting.

But when this Nazi officer returns to Germany he goes about finding like-minded men (Terrence Stamp, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Kenneth Branagh) in his plot to assassinate Hitler. The screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander is adequate but at times needlessly stretched out. There are doses of suspense but not enough and this because most are aware of history and the result of the operation.

But gradually the British accents begin to jar and though most of the players manage to don that Nazi look, it is their mannerisms that give them away, especially Tom Cruise who is himself first and then the German colonel he is playing. British actor David Bamber does a good job as the doddering old Hitler, a man of few words.

Singer manages to piece together a plausible story and the action develops fairly well till the halfway mark. It is only the latter half that sort of palls.

The interiors dominate and dramatic relief is the need of the hour. That the Germans address their chief as Hitler is uncommon. The awe that surrounded his persona led to his not being named or at most referred to as the Fuhrer.

To newcomers in the dark of Nazi drama it could be enlightening. Tom Cruise looks uncomfortable in the lead role and Kenneth Branagh and veteran Terrence Stamp are believable in small cameos. But not Valkyrie and by the time the curtain comes down on the show, one can’t help wondering what’s an American colonel doing there in a German uniform.

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