Valkyrie

“Valkyrie” is the true story of a group's attempts at overthrowing Adolph Hitler and restoring a peaceful German government. It is set in the midst of Jewish persecution in 1944. The group, with Sergeant Stauffenburg as the head, revises a document known as Valkyrie as the core of their plan. They travel inside the government, gaining secret allies along the way. They attempt to bomb Hitler during a meeting, and claim he is dead and Valkyrie is in effect. Because of this, they are allowed to take power and arrest whoever does not comply. With this knowledge, Hitler's troops are ordered against him and take over different territories within Germany, their main goal, gaining allegiance from Berlin. Unfortunately, due to minor mistakes, the group has failed. Hitler survives the blast and quickly arrests Stauffenburg and the “traitor” group. This was the last of 15 known attempts at overthrowing Hitler's Germany.

“Valkyrie” shows us just how much Hitler's control cripples Germany. Countless of his men serving in the military and in office question their morals but because of Hitler's command they fear any rebellion. His Germany is the very definition of an absolute government gone wrong. Similarly, Louis XIV of France a few centuries before made many of the same mistakes such as, persecuting his people, like the Huguenots, and not looking out for the general good of his subjects. Also similarly, due to his rule Louis XIV devastated France's economy as Hitler did to Germany's when losing WWII to the allies. Standing out most to me was the intensity and constant vigilance every man took to during Hitler's reign. It seemed that almost nobody could be trusted and that every man feared Hitler. Unfortunatley, even though I knew the outcome, I was completely disappointed with the conclusion of the movie. I know the every movie cannot always have a happy ending, but because Operation Valkyrie was so close to succeeding, it was hard to accept its failure. In a way, because of that, I would have to recommend this movie to young people and anyone working in the government. Most importantly, I feel most strongly about this historical event than any other. It's imperative that we educate this generation so that it may be an example to all of the destruction that can occur with an absolutist government. Therefore, we can prevent a catastrophe of this kind again. “Valkyrie” easily gets about 4 stars because it was factual, informative, and my heartbeat was racing throughout the entire movie.