Valkyrie (PG)

Jan 27 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

TRYING to restore credibility to those involved in the Nazi war machine is a fraught undertaking.

That is the bold strategy American director Bryan Singer opts to pursue in his latest big budget film, Valkyrie.

But at least it doesn’t carry the same level of risk that his central character, the German Army’s proud Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, faces when he joins a covert resistance movement intent on overthrowing the notorious dictator Adolf Hitler.

Von Stauffenberg, played by Hollywood’s leading man Tom Cruise (right), loses an eye and hand in a raid on his battalion in North Africa.

On returning to the Fatherland, he finds himself abhorred by Hitler’s murderous policies, dedicating himself to restoring Germany's reputation by plotting with the members of a cell made up of military top brass.

The patriotic group plan to kill the Fuhrer and cause chaos by implementing the corrupt government’s own emergency plan, Operation Valkyrie.

Based on a series of true events that took place in July 1944, Valkyrie is another ensemble piece from comic book obsessive Singer and his trusted screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, who rope in the likes of Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson and bizarrely, Eddie Izzard, to play Nazi generals of varying ranks.

Despite their English accents, which take a little time to get used to considering the historical context, Branagh, Nighy and Izzard give sound performances as men in uniform.

Screen legend Stamp is disappointingly relegated to the role of a bit-part player as the bland idealist Col Gen Ludwig Beck, but the always excellent Wilkinson shows the requisite amount of sympathy and contempt in equal measure as the treacherous Col Gen Friedrich Fromm, head of Germany’s reserve army.

The honourable but naive Beck is the polar opposite of the despised Hitler, played here by another English actor, David Bamber, who makes the most of surprisingly limited screen time and precious few lines to give an enigmatic portrayal.

Most of the talking, predictably, is done by Cruise, who even narrates the opening lines in German - but annoyingly, with an American accent.

Wearing an eye-patch in most scenes, the diminutive star gives von Stauffenberg, who is considered a hero in Germany, an appropriate dignity.

As you would expect from the director of The Usual Suspects and Superman Returns, the adventure cracks along at a fair pace.

However, action-packed moments are surprisingly thin on the ground, with virtually none after the opening sequence which shows how von Stauffenberg sustained his injuries.

Thus, Valkyrie can be seen as an attempt by Singer to be taken seriously after years of turning out largely juvenile blockbusters.

To be fair, the film succeeds in restoring a human face to the Third Reich, and more importantly, the German people, by showing how not everyone in the chain of command was prepared to obey orders.

However, the plotters’ complicity in Hitler’s rise and rise in the first place is conveniently passed over, with no human illustrations of exactly WHY Hitler had to be stopped provided for the benefit of the younger generation who will inevitably be attracted to the film.

With no real background painted, a factual work frequently feels more like fantasy.

Being ultra-harsh on Singer, viewers could almost be forgiven for relating as much to the Nazis’ desire to wipe out dissenting voices as with the ‘enemy within’ itself.

Ultimately, Valkyrie says more about its creator’s own desire to live dangerously after years of playing safe than the shameful era he attempts to recreate.

Andrew Welsh