Valkyrie (4/5)

As a fan of the World War II genre, this high budget, well cast film directed by a Hollywood elite was good cat nip for me. I can see why the concept didn’t fly as high as it could have though, it is a downer sell from the onset. How do you pitch a film based on a failed coup attempt. “Titanic” could have certainly failed with its inevitable ending, but the fictional love-against-odds story easily superseded the demise of the ship, and well, one of the leads went on to live a rich life and most of the a-holes get their comeuppance. They attempted similar narratives within the “Pearl Harbor” story, with pathetic results. I can’t say exactly why “The Great Escape” or “Sophie Scholl” eluded the inevitable injustice that mark their final acts. Well, I have notions: “Sophia Scholl” is Germany’s most celebrated martyr who did not necessarily fail, and “The Great Escape” is so much fun that you don’t mind watching McQueen ride his Bonneville into a barb fence. If anything, this film serves as a well-crafted homage to the German underground resistance, which is rare material and reminds us that many just and defiant people lived and served in the Third Reich.

Filed under: 4 stars, review