Above: a couple of weeks ago I went to see the film Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise. I saw it at the Odean, Leicester Square (which seemed shabby and in need of renovation). Fairly long film but the acting was good and I was not distracted by the accents (which had been a complaint of the critics).
In particular I thought Tom Cruise's performance was incredible - totally believable.
Above: the subject of Valkyrie is well known, but the film was fascinating in the way it demonstrated how a small group of determined people can organise and carry out a coup (failed in this case). This film also treated the Germans (some of them) sympathetically, which indicates a change in attitudes - for my parent's generation there was no such thing as a good German, and all the Germans were evil sadists forever tainted by the crimes they had committed. I was disappointed there was no exploration of the influence Stefan George had on von Stauffenberg - one of several examples where poetry has challenged oppresive power (and in this case came close to killing it off).
Stefan George: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_George
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