Hey folks. Capone in Chicago here.

This is apparently the year we find out that not all Germans were bad when Adolf Hitler was in charge. Earlier this year, we had the ill-conceived THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS; this week we have two films, THE READER with Kate Winslet and Bryan Singer's VALKYRIE, which might be the most bold and well executed of the bunch. In some parts in the country, a fourth film called GOOD (starring Viggo Mortensen), which also fits this mold, opens next week. Told in a largely straight-forward manner without too much flash or trumped-up drama, VALKYRIE documents the final and nearly successful attempt on Hitler's life by his own officers.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation of the film was just how many co-conspirators there were in this plot, and Singer (working from a script co-written by his USUSAL SUSPECTS scribe Chris McQuarrie along with Nathan Alexander) does a remarkably adept job laying out the scope and the pieces of this conspiracy so that it is understandable both as a plan and an ideal. I suppose his mission was to explain the difference between a good Nazi and a good German, and while I'm not sure most Americans will quite care about that distinction, it still warms the heart a little that so many men and women on Hitler's side of the war were trying to kill him. Singer's most astonishing achievement with VALKYRIE is that he manages to build a great deal of tension with a story whose ending is already known. Still, there are about 20-30 minutes where he deliberately constructs his film to allow for the fantasy that the bomb that went off at Hitler's Wolf's Lair actually got the job done.

Far too much attention has been paid to accents in this film, and please allow me to put an end to it. Singer and his cast--made up of American, British and German actors--made the decision that every actor would speak with their own accent rather than have everybody adopt some sort of movie version of a German accent. Was this decision made to save Cruise from some embarrassment because his attempts at a German accent were atrocious? I have no idea. But it's a device that I think works. Rather than have VALKYRIE become a battle of accents, Singer allows his actors to focus on, gee, acting. I'm still haunted by Kevin Costner's ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES and his career-killing British accent. Anyone who goes to theatre a lot knows that this "no accent" decision is a pretty common choice on the stage, and if you continue to allow yourself to get hung up on this point, then I'm guessing you weren't a big Cruise fan before you ever heard of this project. Why don't you see the film and then judge whether the accent choices bother you.

As for Cruise, he does a workman's job of not trying to stand out among this extraordinary cast, which includes Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, Kenneth Brannagh, Carice von Houten, Thomas Kretschmann and Terrence Stamp. Cruise's Col. Claus von Stauffenberg is not meant to be an extraordinary man. He's a frustrated soldier who has been badly wounded at war (he lost an eye, one hand, and part of the other) who has seen too many needless deaths in campaign after hopeless campaign that he believes were more an extension of his leader's pride and ego than any real belief that these conflicts could be won. He sees that the end is near and would rather kill Hitler, take over the government, and negotiate with the Allies before any more deaths of good German people occur. Singer spends a great deal of time dealing not just with plotting, but with motive. It seems almost unnecessary to an extent to paint Von Stauffenberg as so overtly heroic--he's trying to kill Hitler; we're already on his side--but I understand he wants us to see this man as something more than power hungry (I can't say the same thing for all of his co-conspirators).

Singer wisely concentrates on showing us to how frustratingly close these people came to achieving their mission. Small, unexpected (and necessary) changes in the plan kept Hitler alive, and you can't help but play out how different the world would be if they had succeeded. One of the most fascinating aspects to Operation Valkyrie is how many passive conspirators were involved, people who were made aware that something was up and basically waited to see how the cards fell to decide whose side they were on. It was also more than a little shocking to see how completely the mission leaders actually did take over the government before it was discovered that Hitler was not dead, and how quickly their plan crumbled when it was revealed he had survived.

VALKYRIE focuses on solid, clear storytelling without losing itself in its complicated, layered plot. The result is a unique kind of thriller propelled by great acting and clear direction. One almost sees a bit of that legendary German efficiency at work here. Give this one a shot; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com