by TIMOTHY J. THOMPSON

Created on: October 15, 2009

On December 25 2008, the film, VALKYRIE, directed by Brian Singer, debuted in theatres across the United States. It starred: Tom Cruise, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp, Carice von Houten, Thomas Kretschmann, Kevin McNally, Liam Neeson and David Bamber, who played German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.

This suspense filled drama recreated the historical events leading up to and through the most famous attempt upon Hitler's life [But not the only one], and the resulting aftermath.

Following the catastrophic German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front, the Nazi German Empire was hurled onto the defensive, fighting for its very survival. Week by week, month by month, their, once invincible, armies were shoved back across the great Soviet Steppe, the deserts of North Africa, Sicily, and the Italian mainland. While there was always a resistance movement amongst the elite German Officer Corps of the Wehrmacht, nothing ever materialized though, because of Hitler's dynamic military successes during 1939, 1940, 1941, and 1942. But, with the tide turning with each passing day, this, once impotent resistance, became incredibly potent. Many plans were hatched to rid Germany of Hitler. None succeeded, though. Then, the Americans led a massive invasion of the Normandy Coastline on June 6 1944. Time was running out for Nazi Germany. More importantly, time was running out for the conspirators to act. They would have to eliminate Hitler and soon, while there was still a chance to negotiate for Germany's survival.

However, just killing Hitler was not enough. A sytematic takeover of the entire government apparatus would need to follow in earnest. There would have to be a thorough plan, if Germany was going to be spared even greater destruction. This was the very essence of VALKYRIE.

The film not only depicts the daring attempt to assassinate Hitler on the afternoon of July 20 1944 at his Wolf's Lair Headquarters in East Prussia, but it also goes into great detail about the events leading up to that historic attempt. In addition, it also shows the sequence of events after the attempt was made, and how close the conspirators came to taking over the German government.

From an historical perspective, the film is fairly accurate. Nobody can expect a Hollywood film to be 100% correct on every detail regarding a famous historical event, that is what books are for! The storyline begins in March 1943 with Cruise's charater, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

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