Stauffenberg

There is no question to honour the activity and exploit of Stauffenberg, but if you are not enough informed about the background of this heroic deed, you are getting really fast an uncritical illustration. It is historically incorrect to focus the whole "coup d'état" of the 20 July 1944 on Stauffenberg. It seems that it was Stauffenbergs own motivation to fulfill the assassination, but there were a lot of other people, who were involved in the preparation. Beck and Olbricht were leading characters long time before, for example. In this movie they just appear as minor characters compared to Stauffenberg. At least it should be "mentioned" that there were two other tries to kill Adolf Hitler the days before the 20th July. I know that it is almost impossible to realize a historical moment as the 20th July in less than two hours, but there were as well a lot of scenes which could be deleted: for example Stauffenbergs "turning point" in Tunesia and this "more funny scene" with this Swabian guy or the long discussion with his wife wasn't that important for the plot...more concentration of basics would have been better. However, I am a great admirer of Sebastian Koch and he was acting fantastic as Stauffenberg. Very deep and clear and not exaggerated at all in opposite to some other characters in this movie. (O. Dietrich was horrible as Goebbels...he should continue to make comedy!)

It is important to bear in mind, that this German version of the Stauffenberg attempt to save Germany was made four years before the great American film with Tom Cruise. They complement each other. The German version is more concise and precise, more approaching a documentary telling the facts with efficient exactness, while the Hollywood version is more dramatic, has a more elaborate dramaturgy, is more efficiently made and is humanly more interesting, so both versions are vital. Sebastian Koch is a little too good-looking to be quite convincing as the scarred and crippled veteran of many battles and hardships, while Tom Cruise made one of his most convincing performances in all his vulnerability. Nothing bad can be said about either of the versions, it's an important chapter in modern German history, as an evidence of the fact that the national resistance against Hitler was only the greater and more bitter for being constantly suppressed, as there were any number of attempts against his life, of which at least one statistically ought to have been successful, but the bitter tragedy was that they all failed, and especially the greatest and final one, which was the most urgent one, because of unpredictable human factors.

The assassination attempt on Hitler in July, 1944 is one of the most important events in modern German history. It has been reconstructed dozens of times - none have really been successful. "Es Geschah am 20. Juli" and "Der 20. Juli", both in 1955, were the first early attempts of "Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung" in Germany, both were made for the cinema screen, both with well-known actors of the time that were old enough to experience the event.

Several re-filmings (To name two more successful ones: Operation Walküre, The Plot to Kill Hitler) were less successful. Filming in color was not enough to make a good story out of a weak one.

"Stauffenberg", on German TV was a much advertised and, rumor has it, expensive event. The cast filled with actors the audience is used to seeing on TV, not one a really good one.

The plot is ok, but runs through the timeline very quickly, starting in 1933 and running to the Summer of 1944 in about 3-4 minutes, without delivering any input. Too little emphasis is placed on the historical context to show the drama of the situation, and if the attempt was to portray the characters decently, not enough is done here. Without historical knowledge of the time, it is hard to follow the characters, their roles and positions.

Hitler and Goebbels (portrayed by Udo Schenk and Olli Dittrich) both look like they have just climbed out of their tombs. The attempt to make them look really evil, fails. In his short appearance, Olli Dittrich makes of Goebbels an insecure, hysterical zombie - it made me laugh.

A few moments of the film did keep me on edge, although I knew the outcome, especially shortly before the execution of Stauffenberg and the other "enemies of the state" - a plus.

Yet: I am still waiting for THE excellent portrayal of the event.

This made-for-TV film has a decent cast and is well executed (mind the pun) with excellent costumes and backdrops. But the movie feels terribly rushed and missing back stories and character development. But the greatest crime is the awful voice actors used for the overdub. They either sound like cartoon Germans or far eastern and certainly anything but convincing WWII German accents. I suspect the DVD has the option for original German soundtrack and subtitles in the language of your choice. I would like to watch this again one day but only with the original actors voices and English subtitles.

It seems that most of the reviews here believe that this German version is somehow "better" than the Cruise version. Whether this is simply anti-Tom Cruise, or anti-Hollywood bias is debatable. I think this version is quite good from the acting, directing, production value standpoints, but really misses the mark on the intricacies of the plot itself or the character development of the other major conspirators, not just von Stauffenberg. The Cruise version is superior in showing the motivations of all the major conspirators and the slow buildup in the plot where the plan to assassinate the monster foments, and how the attempt crumbled due to fate and ineptitude. This German version is good, but in my mind, it is "Operation Valkyrie-Light" and not very satisfying to a history buff and especially a WW2 buff.