Is Horrible 'Valkyrie' Tom Cruise's Nazi Apologia?

foxnews.com ^ | December 26, 2008 | Roger Friedman

[joe.fralick]

The plotters tried to save Germany from conquest and occupation (especially by the Red Army). They were naive, didn't know that anything short of "unconditional surrender" was already off the table as far as the Allies were concerned. They took their chances and paid a severe price. (The ones who were captured got to strangle slowly on piano wire hung from meat hooks, as I recall.)

I don't know if they were ideologically correct or as anti-Nazi as we keyboard warriors would prefer, but they were brave men who tried to overthrow a tyrant who had lost all compassion for the people who had trusted him with ultimate power.

[Vision]

He doesn’t even attempt a German accent, his mannerisms are all from his "Jerry Maguire" era, and his earnestness suggests at best some kind of fictional American soldier trying to infiltrate the Luftwaffe. You knew it would be bad...

Ditto.

[Vision]

You'd have to be nuts to make a commercial movie where the good guys are trying to kill Hitler, but fail and then go along with the Holocaust, experiments, war, etc.

[Clemenza]

The aristocrats in the German army merely got sick of a commoner (and a corporal at that) running an incompetent war. It was that simple.

Cruise as Stauffenberg is just plain laughable.

[InvisibleChurch]

It was a good show. My son and I saw it this afternoon. It laid out the facts, had some Hollywood, I suppose, and even though you know the ending you hope it turns out differently. It's a bummer when the conspiracy falls apart. It shows people in positions of power who fail to live up to their parts in the plan and others pay for it. Tom Cruise played his part well and though I don't know all the facts of the plan it still would be a good history lesson. One part I found difficult to believe was the openness of the conspirators. They talked about the plan or made mention of their dislike for Hitler in places I wouldn't have expected them to do so. Maybe it's just a reaction to how Hollywood generally portrays a conspiracy such as in All The President's Men. Otherwise, it was a good show and TC at least ought to be lauded for bringing the story to the screen.

[Philo-Junius]

You’re confusing the Stauffenberg attentat with Ludwig Beck’s aborted coup attempt just before the Munich Conference in 1938. When Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler in July 1944, the Holocaust was already underway, and the Reich was crumbling.

[bpjam]

Let’s get the bottom line straight here.

Roger Friedman is a big, fat, too unattractive to pick up boys at bars ugly, queer gas bag. (This guys loves all things Rosie.)

Friedman hates Cruise because Cruise is a Scientologist. Scientology views homosexual activity as being ‘aberrative’ behavior and seeks to correct people from continuing destructive personality traits like trolling for dudes in truck stops.

Friedman has frequently used the ‘Cruise is gay’ rumor as justification for attacking Cruise for being a self-loathing gay man. Of course, there appears to be absolutely nothing gay about Cruise (other than the fact that he wears make-up and dresses up like other people for a living).

Friedman is a troll. He is fighting the culture war from the wrong side. And he wants to take down anybody he doesn’t think is on his side.

With all that being said, this latest Cruise movie is just a movie. It succeeds, it fails, so what?? It doesn’t have any larger political, social or societal meaning. The German got their own sordid past to sort out and frankly they bore me.

[17th Miss Regt]

And there is this.

"Their swastikas are now small tokens on chests of medals. They look more like airline pilots than Nazi soldiers."

Of course he is referring to the Wehrmacht eagle on the right breast of the tunic. (This included a small swastika.) But it is clear that he is crazy with rage that the filmmaker actually used historical markings and not the ones Freidmann wanted.

And I must also comment on Freidmann's last few sentences.

"But frankly, when the violins come out at the end of the film, and Singer flashes their written fates on the screen, I felt nothing for them and anger for him. The idea that you’re supposed to feel anything but revulsion for all these people is astonishing to me."

He will be happy to know that his feelings towards the conspirators were shared by most of the German Army, almost all of the SS and most of the Nazi party.

[MissEdie]

Mu husband and I saw it tonight and we both agree with you. I was pleasantly surprised by Tom Cruise’s performance, I personally think he is over-rated as an actor and spends most of his movies smiling his way through them. Not this one though!

[Radagast the Fool]

I’ve never seen a Tom Cruise movie all the way through; the bits I have seen, he’s been too annoying for me to watch for very long. Whiny voice, blank, vacant eyes. “Valkyrie” sounds like a good idea, but not with Cruise in it.

I’ll wait for Viggo in “Good”.

[Happy Rain]

I suppose this dolt thinks “The Longest Day” sucked because it didn’t bring up the Holocaust.

History should be spared spin even if for a good cause—being accurate is enough AND hard enough to come by as it is.

[CaptRon]

I see from the ads that he is still whispering is lines. That is so annoying.

[Revolting cat!]

"Schindler’s List," "Shoah," "The Last Days," and countless other works that brought the truth of the Holocaust into focus at last on film.

Barbra Streisand! Historical truth from Hollywood? Who knew?

[gitmogrunt]

My wife and saw the Valkyrie tonite, we both liked it, and thought it was fairly action packed and historically entertaining.

Is it the greatest film ever made? NO.

Is Tom Cruise acting in Valkyrie the most authentic portrayal of a German Officer? No.

Would I recomend it? Yes at matinee prices.

[dfwgator]

I actually think the best treatment of the assassination attempt on Hitler, was actually portrayed in the made-for-TV series, “War and Remembrance.”

[dfwgator]

“Valkyrie” is frustratingly stupid in this regard. Hitler is not frightening anymore.

They might as well have cast Dick Shawn as Hitler...oh wait, that's already been done. (plus he's dead, but that's a minor detail)

[rawcatslyentist]

>"I saw the film yesterday and I really liked it."

My friend ( a war history geek) liked it also. His 10 yr old son didn't get up to go, because he didn't want to miss any.

I'll wait for the DVD.

[Revolting cat!]

Roger doesn’t even get how ridiculous the accent situation in the movie is. Cruise speaks with an American accent which is perfectly all right for an American movie. Trouble starts when other actors playing Germans speak with a British accent, and another actor, who is German, speaks with... a German accent. Ridiculous Hollywood trash, and conservatives donate money to it?!

[radiohead]

the movie is a dud.

That's too bad. There have been a couple of shows on the History and Military channels about this incident and they are quite riveting. I'm sure an excellent movie might have been made, but why Tom Cruise was chosen for the lead, I do not know. Just looking at him in the commercials tells me I'm better off watching Nazis on cable than going to see this flick.

[Eye of Unk]

Sounds like its not even worth buying as a DVD later on.

another Hollywood failure, what else can they screw up?