The Unusual Suspects: Key conspiritors in the plot to assassinate Hitler.
Being in social assault mode is probably not the most auspicious time to be writing a column intended for public consumption, but I'm sick of doing this at the zero-hour each week so the right time became right now. Last week was a love letter; this week will be slightly more acidic.
For you to have grounding in at least some of what I'm talking about, you'll probably want to check out the trailer for Valkyrie found only on YouTube (seeing as how someone seems to think pulling what I viewed as a great trailer is good for the film; judge for yourself). There is also a short online featurette over at the official Valkyrie site for people that are historically challenged and have no idea that this is a true story. In a quick blurb, Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg was one of the central figures of an attempt on Hitler's life and the coup to seize control of Germany in an effort to save it. The first half of the film details the events leading up to the fateful day the conspirators made their move with the second half chronicling the day itself.
For anyone that's been paying attention, Valkyrie has been a storm of controversy with the film's star, Tom Cruise, in the thick of it, a shoot that has been troubled from the pre-production stages, and now an extended release that has the industry doomsayers, well, doomsaying. Forget that the trailer was everything that you could ask from an historical thriller – tense, purposeful, and informative – forget that the cast is fantastic – Cruise, Terrence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, among others less well know – and forget that the writing and directing team of Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie brought you The Usual Suspects (amongst their other individual successes), no, let's pile on Valkyrie because it's a slow week.
Let's start with Germany. Normally, I'd keep my guns holstered for the purposes of diplomacy – after all, as an American if I stand up for anything in the current political climate I'm worthy of, ironically enough, a swastika being painted on my flag – but I'm
Singer (left) on the set of Valkyrie.
in a bad mood. The July 20 plot of 1944 is one of the few pieces of evidence that proves Germany didn't deserve to be completely put to the torch when World War II came to a weary halt; there were Germans that realized Hitler was a mass-murdering fuckhead (Eddie Izzard, 1999) and took steps to neutralize him and save their beloved country; it even seems likely that these men knew that the plot would fail. One of the conspirators, Henning von Tresckow (played by Branagh), even wrote a letter to Stauffenberg wherein he stated, "The assassination must be attempted at all costs. Even if it should not succeed, an attempt to seize power in Berlin must be made. What matters now is no longer the practical purpose of the coup, but to prove to the world and for the records of history that the men of the resistance dared to take the decisive step. Compared to this objective, nothing else is of consequence." This is an act of great bravery and should be put into the public spotlight to honor these men and their sacrifice. Instead, Germany's government started things off by blocking the production from using historical sites, based on one factor: Tom Cruise is a Scientologist (of course the German government cited various lame excuses).
Now, I don't want to talk too much about Tom Cruise – he's in the film and, yes, he's behind a significant portion of the budget – but I'm SICK AND FUCKING TIRED of other people bagging on the dude for being a scientologist. First off, I never hear him mention it. Not once. He opined about Brooke Shields – who hasn't been cinematically or erection-relevant in 20 years – taking anti-depressants and he went on Oprah Winfrey and made an ass out of himself proclaiming his love for Katie Holmes (whom the media has regularly chased about with torches and pitchforks), but I don't recall any of his little acolytes knocking on my door at eight in the morning, trying to abolish gay marriage, or any of the other little things that the other religions do that piss me off. And, while I'll admit that scientology is a lot bit crazy, it's no more ridiculous than the belief that some cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because some woman, made from the rib of a man, ate from a magical tree based on bad advice from a
Guess what? Scientologists can play real people.
talking snake. You're all crazy; deal with it.
Germany has this big thing against Scientology because its money-oriented foundation reminds them of the fascist nature of the Nazi party, yet strangely they have no objection to Catholicism which was present and even possibly complacent during the Holocaust. Also, in yet another head-in-sand policy, it's against the law to present a swastika for any reason without special permission from the government and even though locals were made aware of what was going on, several citizens filed formal complaints during shooting (methinks thou dost protest too much). I'm not one to carry a grudge and I'm all about second chances, but shouldn't Germany be treated a little like that ex-junkie that's out on parole? I'm proud that you've turned it around and I'll hire you, but I'm not going to let you touch the money just yet.
Moving on, mid-way through production there was an accident where some extras fell out of a truck, only one of which needed to be hospitalized. That's all it was, but the media suddenly had to spin that Valkyrie was cursed and other such nonsense. Accidents do happen while filming. As if that wasn't stupid enough, later there were rumors that the photographs United Artists released showing the physical similarities of Von Stauffenberg to Cruise were fakes. It was posited that UA had doctored the photos to resemble Cruise; it was later retracted as UA could produce the original picture which was simply darker than other iterations of the same picture.
Aside from all that nonsense, I'm pissed on principle for that which has become commonplace with high budget or well-publicized movies: the proclamation of success or failure before the film even releases. In paraphrasing Kevin Smith collaborator Scott Mosier, people got all jazzed about Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace and built it up in their minds to be as big a deal as a virgin makes sex. When it came out, everyone was pissed off and bitching about it. As it applied to Mosier, he was irritated that people found it necessary to criticize the decision to produce Clerks II. Mosier wisely suggested that people wait to judge what's released.
I'm all for judging trailers and the like for what they are – advertisements for whole movies, which, let's face it, is an art in and of itself – but I make a point not to criticize a film that I've not seen, even as I reserve the right to
Hits theaters February 13th, 2009.
skip it.
For instance, when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was nearing release, I attempted to find an excuse to go see it. I'm not criticizing the movie, and I'll likely see it once it hits DVD, but its predecessors were movies great, good, and one smelly dog turd. Harrison Ford hasn't done anything decent in years, Spielberg is never as good frivolous as he is serious, and Lucas, bless his heart, has lost my faith. The trailer also featured a bunch of clips of ridiculous action with only a brief glimpse of Karen Allen – the only reason I even considered going to see it. I'm not saying it's a bad movie – I'll reserve judgment for when I actually see it – but I reserve the right to wait until it's out on DVD too.
Valkyrie already seems to have a mountain of negative reviews just waiting for the first public screening so they can create a landslide of negative word or mouth, each critic hoping he can be the first knot-head to shout that he hated it first. As near as I can tell, the majority of this ill will comes due to the presence of Tom Cruise. I understand that he's good looking, filthy rich, married to a hot sexy woman that's half his age and bore him children so people are forced to reconsider the "he's go gay" jokes, seems to do nothing but successful films (some of which are crap), and now seems poised to become even more influential in La La land, but the sour grapes are making me pucker, and I didn't even have any. Cruise's performances in Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Vanilla Sky, and Collateral – among his many credits – render criticisms about his talent as clearly coming only from the ignorant, be it by choice or birth.
I'm not saying that Valkyrie is going to be a great movie, but there certainly seems to be people Hell-bent on convincing the world that it's going to be bad; the movie isn't even done being made yet. What I am saying it that Valkyrie's subject matter – the April 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler – is a legendary story, being told by a skilled director, written by an Academy Award winning (and deserving) writer, with a cast featuring talented, underrated actors, and has already produced a brilliant trailer. It deserves a chance to be judged on its own merits.
Thom is both a maker and lover of films. He loves, and makes, films of all kinds. He is often as surprised by what he likes as by what he creates himself; Thom entered film school with a distaste for silent, black and white, and foreign films, yet left having made one of each. He likes what he likes and make no apologies for his opinions.
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