The movie opens with Stauffenberg (Cruise) penning in a journal his thoughts about World War II, and how he feels Hitler's destroying Germany.
Personally, it works that the opening dialogue's a voiceover of Tom Cruise speaking in German and to see his writings flow smoothly in German, I can't help but wonder how much practice did it take to (finally) write eloquently? Were there any missed vowels, diphthongs or consonants? I seriously and knowingly doubt so but somehow, it would be something to ponder on - especially when you're one who has no idea what's being written in the first place! (read:ME)..Moving along, I'd say the opening from German to English allows the viewers to recognise that the characters are German and that's a point to keep in mind throughout the whole film.
There were reviews that Tom Cruise shouldn't be playing this role due to his obvious American accent, as well as it devalues the authenticity of a historical production to have him in a Nazi war uniform ---- Errmm...I can't understand what's all the fuss about the accent. It's simply irrelevant. The accent shouldn't be detracting from the film at all. It's the history that you should be interested in, not on how he or any of them speak. To me, so long as the speech's clear and makes sense, then there's no reason to be making a big hoohaa out of it.
_______________
Because the movie's still on screen, I don't want to be spoiling the details or elaborate further for those who haven't seen it. As what I had mentioned once, "Valkyrie I'd say has shown a truth-based story that simply deserves to be repeated. True enough it's interesting on the expectation of an action-thriller wartime movie..it touched me on how much the conspirators had sacrifced in order to try and change their nation for the better. I teared on the last part, obviously."

6 comments:
Very well said, farah. If you're interested you can look for the English text, OPERATION VALKYRIE: THE GERMAN GENERAL'S PLOT AGAINST HITLER. Its author's Pierre Galante. (New Yorker, Harper & Row, 1981)
I THOUGHT THE MOVIE WAS A WASTED ONE FOR HOLLYWOOD. TERRIBLY SAD TO WASTE SO MUCH MONEY ON SUCH ISSUES.
bah humbug
FARAHDEE! I'M A FAN! NO! NOT HITLER'S BUT YOUR BLOG! KEEP IT GOING FARAHDEE! =)
Hitler was the wax guy whose head was cut off at Berlin's Madame Tussaud's wax museum. It was known that a german guy did it. GOSH! Germ-ans. cAN'T they control themselves & move on? History is History dude.
To be complete anal about it, I actually hated the start. I hated the way it made me realise how much more immersive it would have been if it had been cast in its native tongue. At the end of the day it's a movie, and I'm in it for the immersion. Otherwise I'd have read the book. Which I might, come to think of it.
Post a Comment