Monday, November 30, 2009

Valkyrie

Maybe history would have been written in a different way, had the 20th July plot of destroying Hitler did not meet such a tragic end. A cleverly devised plan not only to kill the dictator but also to destroy the core Nazi regime within three hours was the brainchild of Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg whose idea was based ironically on a plan approved by Hitler himself to deploy the Reserve Army force, in case of state emergency, to secure the Government to maintain domestic law and order.

As a faction of the Army was growing increasingly dissatisfied by the impending loss in the hand of the Allies, some were also restless in serving the country with honour. A secret society had thus formed which made several failed attempts on Hitler’s life. When Stauffenberg joined the society, he pointed out a serious flaw in the earlier plans that would have led to serious setback had the any of the previous attempts were a success. He indicated for the first time that no concrete plan exist after Hitler’s death. This led to redraft of the plan by the plotters to initiate Operation Valkyrie and staging of a coup in which the Reserve Army will be used to disarm and arrest SS and the Hitler’s Party elite under false belief that the later were trying to secure power. Thus Valkyrie was redrafted and Stauffenberg, utilizing his advantage of his position managed to get Hitler to sign the document. But a major obstacle still remained in the form of Reserve Army General Friedrich Fromm who tried to maintain a safe side at all cost. But it was decided by the resistance to arrest Fromm, if he remains obstinate after Hitler’s death and thus the stage was set for the plan to be executed. It was planned to blow off Hitler at a party meeting in the Wolf’s Lair but one of the leaders of the Resistance, Dr. Carl Goerdeler insisted that the assassination must include Heinrich Himmler, else it should be aborted. Thus the 1st attempt on 15th July, 1944 was called off as Himmler was not present in the meeting. Meanwhile the other leaders Colonel General Ludwig Beck and Field Marshall Erwin von Witzleben, who didn’t approve of Goerdeler’s point asked him to go to hiding from Gestapo and thus indirectly brushed aside the Himmler constraint.

So on 20th July, Stauffenberg and his adjutant Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, again attempted the assassination and the bomb did go off in the right time as was expected. Stauffenberg managed to buff his way outside, having witnessed the blast but in the general confusion, General Erich Fellgiebel who controlled the communication and was also another inside man of the Resistance, failed to convey the confirmation of Hitler’s death to General Friedrich Olbricht and Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, who were assigned the duty to mobilize the Reserve Party. Though Mertz insisted that they should immediately issue the orders, Olbricht was adamant to do so before final confirmation. So Mertz forged Olbricht’s signature and issued the orders anyway. Meanwhile Stauffenberg flies to Berlin and rumours also arrive that Hitler survived the blast. But Stauffenberg dismissed them as SS propaganda and continued the plan of securing the Government. Several Nazi party leaders and SS officials were arrested and Government quarters were being started to be taken control over. But at this time, Hitler, truly surviving the blast, personally ordered Reserve Army leader Otto Ernst Remer to release the party heads and instead arrest Stauffenberg and the rest of the Resistance’s leaders alive.

As Remer reached Bendlerblock, the Resistance HQ, Fromm is released and Stauffenberg and his allies were arrested. In order to save himself from charges of his involvement, Fromm immediately ordered executions of the Resistance leaders and thus directly disobeying Hitler’s orders of bringing the conspirators alive, finally met with death sentence later. When Stauffenberg’s turn came to face the firing squad before Haeften, the brave Lieutenant placed him in between and met his death before his honourable superior.

Brian Singer’s direction was perfect as is the cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel. Tom Cruise delivers one of his finest performances as do the others specially, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Christian Berkel, Jimmie Parker, Eddie Izzard, Thomas Kretschmann and Hervey Friedman. But as a whole the trace of Americanisation could not be masked completely. Apart from this, the rest was really a great tribute to several heroes trying to save the honour of their country.

Hit List

http://calcuttatube.com/hitlist-2009-bengali-movie-review/

Shesh Sanghat

http://calcuttatube.com/shesh-sanghat-2009-bengali-movie-review/