This review of Tom Cruise’s newly released film Valkyrie from Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung is not only a good way to get an idea of the quality of the film, it’s a fascinating sociological study as well.After all, Cruise is not a popular figure in Germany due to his adherence to Scientology – which Berlin considers a dangerous sect and has tried to stamp out. But on the other hand, by shining a light on a German icon who opposed Hitler and Nazism, Cruise is in effect giving Germans a public-relations boost many in that nation have wanted badly for decades.
For Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Tobias Kniebe writes in part: “This isn’t your typical Hollywood tale. Tom Cruise in Germany, portraying a German hero? … That’s something that takes some getting used to. …
Measured in terms of all the things the film was accused of and all that could have gone wrong, one can almost call it a triumph. … Hollywood has never taken such a thoroughly German issue as seriously as it has with this opulent, logistical cinematographic effort.”
By Tobias Kniebe
Translated By Ulf Behncke
December 15, 2008
Germany – Sueddeutsche Zeitung – Original Article (German)
The first voices in the film are German. A company of male voices, bellowing their oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler: “I swear by God this sacred oath that I shall render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich and people …” A rich, deep red fills the screen, then the word Walküre, which slowly transforms into the English Valkyrie. The red, as is turns out when the camera moves back, is that of a swastika-bearing flag.Then another voice speaks German: In the Anglo-American version of the movie, in order to do a voice-over for an entry into Stauffenberg’s diary, Tom Cruise himself learned the language: the nation, he says, needs a violent overthrow. Only then does the movie fade into English. This is Hollywood’s attempt to lead the audience into the story – a story that’s not your typical Hollywood tale. Tom Cruise in Germany, portraying a German hero? … That’s something that takes some getting used to.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
