Valkyrie: Who Would Sacrifice Life for FREEDOM and Sovereignty? What Change We Have to Encounter in this SLAVE World?
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time- Two Hundred Thirty Five
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
Mamata raises pitch in Delhi, wants Central team in BengalExpressindia.com - 6 hours ago PTI Kolkata Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today demanded that a Central team visit West Bengal after one person was killed and six injured at ... Centre to send team of observers Times of India TC worker shot dead in Bengal Express Buzz Bengal claw back, set up humdingerIndian Express - 7 hours ago After three meandering days of run riot, Bengal's Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra is all set for a finish that could either be thrilling or that could ... Bengal stand up to test Calcutta Telegraph Tiwary, Das crack tons as Bengal reply strongly Press Trust of India Karat, Yechury to attend Bengal meet on SundayEconomic Times - 10 hours ago ... parts of the state are likely to be taken up in presence of the two key party functionaries and West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. ... Bengal violence forces House halt Calcutta Telegraph CPM 'rectification' meet on Nov 28-29 Indian Express Blood spills as CPM mounts clawback bid Calcutta Telegraph Bengal will take back Singur land if BHEL shows green signalIndian Express - 8 hours ago The West Bengal government today said it would start the process of getting back the land from the Tatas in Singur if BHEL selects the site for setting up a ... We'll get Singur land back for Bhel: Sen Times of India Tata's Singur land can be acquired for BHEL: Bengal minister Economic Times Browns Notebook: Bengals lineman guarantees winCanton Repository - - 7 hours ago Fanene is in his fifth year with the Bengals. He was a seventh-round draft pick out of Utah in 2005 who started only four games in the previous four seasons ... JSW, JFE Holdings in talks on equity sharingEconomic Times - 20 hours ago 26 Nov 2009, 1815 hrs IST, PTI KOLKATA: JSW Steel is in talks with Japanese firm JJFE Holdings on equity sharing arrangement of JSW Bengal Steel, ... JSW Steel scales 52-week high India Infoline.com Bhushan Steel pares gains, ends flat Business Standard Update on JSW West Bengal steel project SteelGuru Land ready for ITC food unitTimes of India - 9 hours ago The latter had been scouting for land in Bengal for the last three years. West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), which is engaged in ... West Bengal offers land to AIFF for football academyTimes of India - Nov 25, 2009 NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government has offered land and infrastructural support to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to build a state of the art ... Teams cry foul over fudging Calcutta Telegraph West Bengal bandh flops on lack of political supportEconomic Times - Nov 24, 2009 KOLKATA: Predictably, the SUCI-sponsored 12-hour bandh on Tuesday in West Bengal flopped since both Trinamool Congress and Congress opposed it. ... Kishanji out of Bengal: Cops Calcutta Telegraph HC directs joint forces to vacate schools in Lalgarh by Dec 30 Expressindia.com West Bengal: BJP making efforts to make Nov 30 bandh successfulEconomic Times - - Nov 25, 2009 Even though the BJP is an organised and cadre-based national party, its existence in West Bengal is hardly felt. Organisationally, the BJP is not very ... Bandh excuse for self-shutdown Calcutta Telegraph Little impact of SUCI bandh in WB Press Trust of India SUCI bandh cry ends in a whimper Indian Express |
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updated 2:30 PM IST
7/11/2009
Ton Up!: India reaches 100 Test wins
A major milestone was reached by India against the Sri Lankans, following their thumping win in the second Test match at Kanpur.
Coming into the match India were on 99 Test wins and after the stalemate in Ahmedabad, were desperate to secure that elusive 100th win. Not only would a victory cement the team's place in Indian cricket history, but it would also propel them to the top of the ICC Test rankings along with South Africa.
This century has been a long time coming with the country having spent more than 70 years playing Test cricket and its first victory being way back in 1952, against England. That match was won by an innings, which brings a nice symmetry to the 100th win, with India also winning by an innings and 144 runs.
| Opposition | Span | Matches | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1947-2008 | 76 | 18 |
| Bangladesh | 2000-2007 | 5 | 4 |
| England | 1932-2008 | 99 | 19 |
| New Zealand | 1955-2009 | 47 | 15 |
| Pakistan | 1952-2007 | 59 | 9 |
| South Africa | 1992-2008 | 22 | 5 |
| Sri Lanka | 1982-2009 | 32 | 12 |
| West Indies | 1948-2006 | 82 | 11 |
| Zimbabwe | 1992-2005 | 11 | 7 |
| Total: | 1932-2009 | 432 | 100 |
Source: India syndicate
Sachin: We need to value our strong spirit and unity | ||
| LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI | ||
Calcutta: It didn't come as a surprise that Sachin Tendulkar declined to comment on having taken the initiative for Team India to observe a minute's silence at the Green Park, on Thursday morning. The inspirational multiple-record holder probably believes that, being the senior-most pro, he ought to be taking such initiatives and guiding the Mahendra Singh Dhonis. Whatever, Sachin spoke to The Telegraph for around 10 minutes (from the team hotel in Kanpur) after the day's play. Usually, he doesn't talk to the media at all during a match, unless requested to do so by the team management. Sachin, an Indian first and then a Maharashtrian and Mumbaikar, chose to make an exception this one time, though. The following are excerpts Exactly a year after Mumbai's 26/11 (Pauses) It's a time to recall the terrible experience the country went through... It wasn't an attack just on Mumbai... One feels the pain of the families who lost near and dear ones... A number of people have, over the past year, done their bit to fight terror... To ensure that something like 26/11 isn't repeated... I'd like to avail of this opportunity and place on record my appreciation of their efforts... It's an emotional day. On how he first heard of the terror strikes It was in the dressing room, after the ODI (against England) in Cuttack... It was with shock that we watched one of the news channels... I called home as soon as I could and spoke to my immediate family... I did feel concerned... The family, too, was watching TV with disbelief... Actually, it's very difficult describing what one felt. Whether he and the other citizens are safer today than a year ago I'm no expert, but steps have been taken... I'd like to believe that security has been strengthened, something which benefits the common man... I do feel that the security agencies and personnel are more on their toes now... Obviously, I'm not privy to what is being done on a day to day basis, across the country, so I can't comment on the specifics... As I've said, I'm no expert, either. If lessons have been learnt I'm not the competent person to answer this question... Finally, his message for fellow-Indians We've always stuck together in a crisis... We should pray to God that 26/11 isn't repeated, but if something does happen again, then we must continue to show unity and a strong spirit... A crisis, especially, brings India together even more... We need to value our strong spirit and unity... As I've told you, on a different occasion, I'm the positive type and hate to criticise purely for the sake of criticising. As a country, we need to be confident. Footnote: In the lead up to completing 20 years as an international cricketer, on November 15, Sachin had picked his unbeaten hundred (103) in the first Test after 26/11 (against England, in Chennai), last December, as his No.1 moment. The Shiv Sena, clearly, needs to take note. |
Who Would Sacrifice Life for FREEDOM and Sovereignty?
What Change We Have to Encounter in this SLAVE World?
Valkyrie!I saw the film last day. My son Steev TUSSU insisted that me and Sabita must see the film. Often he does it. He has an Excellent Aesthetic Cinematic Sense and hates MALODRAMA. I had in fact sent him to a Directorfriend who was ready torecruit him as assistant Director but landing into the UNIT he just spoilt the director`s game!
Having Seen the Film and the Passion and Sacrifice forFreedom and Sovereignity, I am PAINED as we lack this so badly these days!Recently, just after Nandigram Genocide, I had to Talk a SC Deputy Registrar in Calcutta University! He is a CPIM Party Card Holder. I asked him why I should be in touch with him as he is affliated with the Genocide gestapo. He referred to our personal relations and accepted that my involvement in the Resistance was justified.In accordance to him since I am an Ideological Marxist, I have no obligation of political or Social equations and am capable to raise my voice. But he may not as he is indulged in Practical politics which cretaes and sustains LIVELIHOOD. He is an honest man.
What about this Practical Politics, we may understand this with the Changing Pay Rolls for either factions of the Brahaminical Hegemony and the list of the Intellectuals and Icons changing Wings on name of Ideology, Commitment, Concern,Change! It is all about Livelihood. Some Honest person would then say,` Just see, I have a job just because I am a party Man. My wife and relations have also got something to do. We have well Furnished Flats, Telephone and Cars. Provided I join you, I would be thrwn into the wildness. I may not go UPSTREAM swimming against Under Currents so Violent.'
Last day, I told my ONGC scientist friends and Bamcef Whole timer, ONCE the Resrvation and Quotas Finished , there would not be any Ambedkarite Mobilisation as SC, ST, OBC Welfare Associations and Bamcef Faction would then be IRRELEVANT. Resistance is the URGENCY of the day and you do engage yourselves just in Resource Mobilisation!
Who Would Sacrifice Life for FREEDOM and Sovereignty?
What Change We Have to Encounter in this SLAVE World?
My father also had Political Equations to defend the Dalit Bengali Refugees thrownout of Bengali Brahaminical Geopolitics which I hated most. I respected his Proactivism and Commitment, Concern for the People and Honesty above all but I despised his Political Tagging with ND Tiwari and KC Pant most.I must repent for the word I used against him, a Power Broker. During late eighties, while we mobilised RESISTANCE against Gang Rape of dalit Refugee Women in MAHTOSH More, in between Gadarpur and Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, the Refugee Leaders betrayed us to Save the Chief Minister ND Tiwari and my Father in the Helicopter with the CM Convinced our People to desist from Resistance.
It was TRUE that any Movement should turminate at a point but without ensuring the Justice, how our leaders should retreat thus, it was my point.The supporters of ND Tiwari aroused ETHNO Nationalismon Bal Thakray line then and My late father was afraid of the EVICTION of Majority Landless Dalit Bengali Refugees in a Hostile Landsacpe. I would Never Understand this at tah time. Me and Sabita just kept a DISTANCE from my Father`s Practical Politics, which I Never did undrestand.
When I Passed my M.A. from DSB College, ND Tiwari, then Finance Minister of India in Indira Gandhi Government in 1980, offered me Job in Delhi University whcih I rejected with hatred.While I had been in Dahnbad, Bihar Ministers and Coal India offered me positions aluring as I was EXPOSING the MINING Mafia at the time. I had no cause to be dragged in.
Our frined Arvind Chaturved, the journalist and poet boasted that he would Never Compromise as he has no Liability! He used to say if you had a Family behind you, they may TRAP you any moment. Well, it is happening so violently.I see that Every Kind of people who had been Marxists for last Three Decades, turn TRINAMOOL so rapidly as they may not SURVIVE without Political Patronage and LOSEtheir Job and Livelihood.
Madhu KODA raoms FREE despite the Four Thousand Crore GRAFT Charge just because it would open the Pandora`s BOX.
State heads and Government Heads have to act inaccordance with Dictations from Washington or they have to be destined as SADDAM HUSSEIN had been. We witness somany incidents of Coups around us!
Who Would Sacrifice Life for FREEDOM and Sovereignty?
What Change We Have to Encounter in this SLAVE World?
Port of spain: If US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle wanted to charm their Indian guests at the first state dinner of his presidency, they appear to have succeeded hugely. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was lavish in his praise of the White House banquet on Tuesday, calling it 'magnificent' and 'one of the best dinners I have attended'.
'It was a unique experience. The dinner was lavish and extravagant. The atmosphere and the layout was outstanding,' Manmohan Singh said while sharing his first impressions of the state dinner with the Indian media after flying in from Washington Thursday.
Obama hosted the first state dinner of his presidency Tuesday night for Manmohan Singh at an elegantly designed white tent erected on the South Lawn of the White House that was attended by top Obama aides, powerful senators, Hollywood moguls, billionaire tycoons, and prominent Indian Americans.
The grand and glamor-filled state dinner was choreographed to send the powerful message that the US saw India as an 'indispensable partner' in handling global challenges of the 21st century.
'President Obama and his wife laid out one of the best dinners and went out of the way. The people who had come in and the gathering in itself is a statement,' said Manmohan Singh, visibly impressed with all-out efforts by the Obama administration to put on an unforgettable show in Washington Tuesday.
'It was a great experience and I enjoyed being there. It was one of the best dinners that I have attended,' he said.
'There was a gathering of many distinguished guests in the dinner. People who are eminent and form the crust of the society. It was a pleasure to meet them all and be in their company,' said Manmohan Singh when asked what will be the lasting memory he will treasure from Tuesday's dinner.
'The dinner was magnificent and it was my pleasure to have attended the same. In the dinner there were a number of people of Indian origin who have made a mark on their own. A number of distinguished Indians who have done us proud,'
'This in itself is reflective of President Obama's personality. In this gathering of distinguished people, specially people of Indian origin, I felt proud to be an Indian,' he said.
Among the prominent Indian-Americans who attended the power do were Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, Rajat Gupta of McKinsey fame, Vishakha Desai, president of Asia Society, Kamla Harris, district attorney of San Francis district, hotelier Sant Chatwal and Sonal Shah, an economist who heads Obama's office of social innovation.
VALKYRIE
Synopsis: Based on a the true story of cadre of Nazi officers who grew to oppose Hitler's murderous pursuits and made several attempts to kill him in the late stages of WWII, VALKYRIE features a top-flight...
There is a tendency to pile on someone when they are down, and in the case of Tom Cruise it seems he may have abetted some of that with his freakishly self-righteous behavior in the public eye. His capital with his audience has been severely diminished, then, due to his public persona taking such precedence over his screen one. Add to that the incredibly risky and failing enterprise of his purchase of a stake in United Artists after his unceremonious release from his longtime production partner, Paramount. His first film for UA, Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs (2007) was a flop. His newest one, the troubled Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men), has had its release delayed a few times now. So what a pleasant surprise it is to report that Singer and Cruise deliver one solid thriller that could help launch Cruise back into critical favor if not necessarily commercial success.
The timing of this dark World War II-era drama's Christmas release is commercially ill conceived. Certainly, they have a film that I'm sure they believed had potential for some Oscars in the technical and story realm, which may explain trying to squeeze it out before the end of the year. Frequent Singer collaborator Christopher McQuarrie and cowriter Nathan Alexander have come up with an exciting script based on the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, on July 20, 1944, hatched by some of his closest officers. The problem is that, as we all know, they failed. It is hard to see how such a downer will succeed during the joyous holiday season. It's a shame really, because Tom Cruise is great in the role of the plot's ringleader, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
Frequently dismissed as a celebrity personality more than a true actor, Cruise is excellent in the part. Just like other larger than life movie stars like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, Cruise is remarkably adept at using his public persona to inform and enhance his performances. In this case, the embattled Stauffenberg, carrying the full and sole responsibility for the execution of the plot, and then contending with the ramifications of its failure is not unlike the present Cruise, the embattled actor carrying the full and sole responsibility for the success of this film and United Artists.
http://blogcritics.org/video/article/movie-review-valkyrie/
Movie Review: Valkyrie
19 Feb, 2009 10:46 am IST
lRenuka Vyavahare/INDIATIMES MOVIES| Direction: Bryan Singer Genre: Drama Rating: The problem with films consisting big stars is the fact that their films garner humungous expectations. Unfortunately, very rarely do these films live up to our expectations and Valkyrie is no exception. The film's trailers were exceptionally promising and the whole 'conscience v/s duty' tag line made it all the more interesting. Although barring the first ten minutes of the film and a few scenes which can be counted on your fingers, Valkyrie which showcases the plot of few Nazis' to kill Hitler fails to hold your interest, nor does it evoke any sympathy towards those involved in the plot. Valkyrie is a story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and a few others like him who are desperate to rescue Germany from the clutches of Adolf Hitler. These army men put humanity before patriotism as they get involved in this treason. Stauffenberg (Cruise) for the sake of Germany plans and executes this 'kill-Hitler' mission, only to meet with devious consequences. Valkyrie is pretty much a court-room drama and for a film of this genre to work, the suspense and script should be able to create that extreme impact. With Valkyrie, neither the dialogues, script and nor the performances keep you engaged! The story drags throughout and very rarely do you find yourself deeply engaged with the film. Hitler's atrocities are known to all but a brief flashback here and there describing his misdeeds could have given the film the background it needed. You do not feel for the protagonist as his intentions are not backed with credible reasons either. Casting is another problem in this flawed film. The actor who plays Hitler is effective but he too is kept in the backdrop with nothing much to say. Cruise acts well but does not fit into the role of a German soldier... his accent, body language everything is supremely American which acts as the biggest flaw in the film. Other characters impress more than Cruise does but even those characters are not introduced well and before you try to register their identities the focus shifts on to someone else. Majority of other characters are British so even that takes away the authenticity needed for a film like this. Cruise's love for Germany, duty towards human kind and concern for his family – None seems convincing. Operation Valkyrie is indeed a failed attempt of replicating the July 20, 1944, plot of killing Hitler. Click below for more Oscar nominated movie reviews – Slumdog Millionaire movie review Changeling movie review Milk movie review http://movies.indiatimes.com/Reviews/Hollywood/Movie-Review-Valkyrie/articleshow/4153385.cms |
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Bill Nighy: 'I am not suddenly the greatest actor in the world'
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985699/
Valkyrie (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Valkyrie | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Bryan Singer |
| Produced by | Christopher McQuarrie Bryan Singer Gilbert Adler Chris Lee |
| Written by | Christopher McQuarrie Nathan Alexander |
| Starring | Tom Cruise Kenneth Branagh Bill Nighy Carice van Houten Eddie Izzard Terence Stamp Tom Wilkinson |
| Music by | John Ottman |
| Cinematography | Newton Thomas Sigel |
| Editing by | John Ottman |
| Studio | United Artists |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 2008 (US) January 22, 2009 (GER) January 23, 2009 (UK) |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, German |
| Budget | US$75 million (official) to US$90 million (reported) |
| Gross revenue | US$200,276,784[1] (worldwide) |
Valkyrie is a 2008 historical thriller film set in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film depicts the 20 July plot by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of the country. Valkyrie was directed by Bryan Singer under the American studio United Artists, and the film stars Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the key plotters. Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard, Terence Stamp and Tom Wilkinson are also featured as fellow plotters.
Cruise's casting caused controversy among German politicians and members of the von Stauffenberg family because of the actor's practice of Scientology, which is viewed with suspicion in the country. German newspapers and filmmakers supported the film to spread global awareness of von Stauffenberg's plot. The filmmakers initially had difficulty setting up filming locations in Germany due to the controversy, but they were later given leeway to film in locations pertaining to the film's story, such as Berlin's historic Bendlerblock.
The film changed release dates several times, from as early as June 27, 2008 to as late as February 14, 2009. The changing calendar and poor response to United Artists's initial marketing campaign drew criticism about the studio's viability. After a positive test screening, Valkyrie's release in North America was ultimately changed to December 25, 2008. United Artists renewed its marketing campaign to reduce its focus on Cruise and to highlight Singer's credentials. The film has received mixed reviews in the United States. It opened commercially in Germany on January 22, 2009, where reports were mixed about the German reception of the film. To date, Valkyrie has grossed a total of over $200 million worldwide.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Plot
During World War II, Wehrmacht Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is serving with the 10th Panzer Division in Tunisia. Although he makes no secret of his hatred for Nazism, Stauffenberg continues to serve his country with distinction. However, a pair of British P-40 Warhawks strafe his unit, during which the Colonel is severely wounded and evacuated to Nazi Germany.
Meanwhile, Abwehr Major General Henning von Tresckow (Branagh) attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler by concealing a bomb in a bottle of Cointreau and smuggling it aboard the Führer's airplane. The bomb, however, fails to detonate and Tresckow discreetly retrieves it to conceal his actions. Upon returning to the Bendlerblock, however, Tresckow learns that the Gestapo has arrested Major General Hans Oster. Commenting that the German Resistance will need a new logistics chief, Tresckow orders General Friedrich Olbricht (Nighy) to find a replacement.
Meanwhile, having lost his eye, right hand, and two fingers on his left hand, Stauffenberg catches the attention of Olbricht at a military hospital. When the General approaches him, Stauffenberg states that during his months of recovery, he realized that destroying Hitler was the only way to honorably serve Germany. As a result, Tresckow and Olbricht deliver him to a meeting of the committee which has arranged all previous attempts on Hitler's life. The leaders are Colonel General Ludwig Beck (Stamp), Dr. Carl Goerdeler (McNally), and Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben (Schofield). The Colonel is stunned to learn that no plans exist for after Hitler's assassination.
Later, during an Allied bombing raid, Stauffenberg remembers the emergency plan known as Operation Valkyrie, which involves the deployment of the Reserve Army to maintain order in a state of emergency. The plotters carefully redraft the plan so that, after killing Hitler, they can stage a coup d'etat by disarming and arresting the SS and the Party elite. The committee, however, reminds Stauffenberg that only Reserve Army Colonel General Friedrich Fromm (Wilkinson) can initiate Valkyrie. Commenting that Fromm is an amoral careerist, General Beck orders them to buy his loyalty with a promise of promotion and power in the new regime.
When Fromm is approached, Stauffenberg and Olbricht offer him a position as head of the Wehrmacht in a post-Nazi Germany. Instead of denouncing them, Fromm comments that he always comes out on the right side of any situation. If Hitler is killed, therefore, he will gladly support the Resistance in the aftermath.
Meanwhile, the rewritten plan requires approval by Adolf Hitler (Bamber) himself. Therefore, Stauffenberg visits the Führer at his Berghof estate. In the presence of his inner circle, Hitler describes Stauffenberg as the ideal German officer and approves the plan without fully examining the changes.
At Dr. Goerdeler's insistence, Stauffenberg is ordered to not assassinate Hitler unless Heinrich Himmler is also present. At a final briefing, Abwehr Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim (Berkel) instructs Stauffenberg in the use of British pencil detonators. Stauffenberg also persuades General Erich Fellgiebel (Izzard), who controls all communications at Wolf's Lair, to cut off communications at the right moment.
On July 15, 1944, Stauffenberg attends a strategy meeting at Wolf's Lair with a bomb in his briefcase. However, Himmler is not present and Stauffenberg does not receive permission to arm the bomb until it is too late. Meanwhile, the Reserve Army is mobilized by Olbricht to stand by. With no action taken, Stauffenberg safely extracts himself and the bomb from the bunker and the Reserve Army is ordered to stand down, under the impression all they have done is participate in a training exercise.
Enraged, Stauffenberg goes to the committee to protest the incompetence of Goerdeler, who has been selected to be Chancellor of Germany after the coup. When Goerdeler demands that Stauffenberg be replaced, Beck and Witzleben inform him that the Gestapo is searching for him and implore him to go into hiding.
On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg and his adjutant, Lieutenant Werner von Haeften (Parker), return to the Wolf's Lair. While Haeften waits with a getaway car, Stauffenberg leaves the briefcase at the meeting inside an open air summer barrack, as opposed to the command bunker. With the bomb armed, Col. Stauffenberg leaves the barrack. When the bomb explodes, he is certain that Hitler is dead, bluffs his way past a checkpoint, and departs from a nearby airfield. Before shutting down communications, Fellgiebel calls Mertz about the explosion but because of static, cannot clearly convey whether or not the Führer is dead.
As Stauffenberg flies back to Berlin, Olbricht refuses to mobilize the Reserve Army until it is confirmed that Hitler is dead. Frustrated, Mertz forges Olbricht's signature and issues the orders anyway. With Operation Valkyrie underway, Stauffenberg and his fellow plotters order the arrest of Nazi Party leaders and SS officers and begin to take control of Berlin's government quarter. Rumors reach Berlin that Hitler survived the blast, but Stauffenberg dismisses them as SS propaganda. Meanwhile, Fromm learns from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel that Hitler is still alive and refuses to join the plotters, resulting in his arrest. When Hitler himself reaches Reserve Army leader Otto Ernst Remer by telephone, Remer orders the SS officers released and besieges Stauffenberg's allies inside the Bendlerblock. Stauffenberg and the other ringleaders are arrested.
In an attempt to save himself from being charged with involvement, Fromm promptly tries and sentences the men to death with the exception of Beck, who receives a pistol to commit suicide. As the other leaders are executed by firing squad in the courtyard, the film flashes forward to reveal the fates of the other major characters (most of whom perished soon after or following the war). Fromm's treachery, it is revealed, did not save him, as his actions went against Hitler's orders to deliver the plotters to him alive.
When Stauffenberg's turn arrives, he shouts, "Long live sacred Germany," moments before the bullets tear into him. As the light drains from his eye(s), the film flashes back to Stauffenberg's last farewell to his wife and children.
[edit] Cast
- Tom Cruise stars as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the Wehrmacht Colonel who was instrumental in the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Bryan Singer saw von Stauffenberg as "very much a humanist", saying, "He understood his role as a colonel, but he also understood that the Nazis were doing terrible, terrible, terrible things." Having directed Superman Returns, Singer compared von Stauffenberg's dual identity as loyal colonel and conspirator to Superman and his civilian identity Clark Kent.[3] Cruise had wanted to work with Singer since they met at the premiere for Mission: Impossible, and the actor was enticed by the script's background, the truth of which struck him as a surprise.[4] The actor described von Stauffenberg's heroism, "I thought of it in terms of what [von] Stauffenberg represents. He was someone who realized that he had to take the steps that ultimately cost him his life... He recognized what was at stake."[5] Cruise felt von Stauffenberg did not think of himself as a hero.[6] The actor prepared for the role for eight months by hiring a researcher, studying history books, and speaking with some of von Stauffenberg's family.[7] Since von Stauffenberg lost his left eye, right hand and two fingers on his left hand in an Allied attack in Tunisia, Cruise affected the same disabilities to practice dressing, moving items and writing.[5] Cruise initially found the eyepatch difficult to work with but acknowledged that von Stauffenberg had to live with this discomfort.[6]
- Kenneth Branagh plays Major General Henning von Tresckow.[8] Branagh differed physically from the real Tresckow, who was balding, but Singer said, "[I]f you look at Tresckow's energy, he had an honesty that Branagh has."[9]
- Bill Nighy portrays General Friedrich Olbricht.[8] Nighy was cast to give a sympathetic quality, so Olbricht would not be the "fall guy". Nighy wanted to convey Olbricht as divided between complaining about Hitler's regime and actually doing something about it.[6] The actor described his portrayal, "One of the most disconcerting things imaginable is to put on a Nazi uniform. It's so associated with evil that it took me several days to get used to being in costume."[10]
- Terence Stamp portrays Colonel General Ludwig Beck.[8] Singer met Stamp to discuss playing a part in X-Men, having admired him for portraying General Zod in Superman II. Stamp endured the Blitz as a child and aided Singer in staging a scene where the von Stauffenbergs hide from the Allied bombings.[11] The actor described his approach to portraying Beck: "There has to be a kind of non-judgmental discernment, so when I'm playing villains, they don't think they're particularly villains." The actor sought to find "the part of Terence that would be prepared to fall on his sword for certain ideals".[3]
- Tom Wilkinson portrays Colonel General Friedrich Fromm, head of Germany's Reserve Army. Wilkinson was cast to make the treacherous Fromm sympathetic.[6]
- Carice van Houten portrays von Stauffenberg's wife, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg. The filmmakers were impressed by her performance in Black Book, and argued she could give a strong performance with minimal dialogue. Screenwriter Nathan Alexander spoke to von Stauffenberg's relatives and noted that, although Nina and Claus never directly spoke about the plot, "in a sense it was all they talked about".[6]
- Kevin McNally portrays Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, a German politician who intends to become chancellor of Germany after a successful coup.
- David Schofield portrays Erwin von Witzleben, a retired Field Marshal and one of the plotters. Singer and McQuarrie were impressed by Schofield's professionalism and dedication to show up on set for scenes without his character, and the filmmakers expanded his role as a result.[12]
- Christian Berkel portrays Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim, a plotter with knowledge of explosives.
- Jamie Parker portrays Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, an adjutant to von Stauffenberg who helps the colonel carry out the plot.
- Eddie Izzard portrays General Erich Fellgiebel, a German officer responsible for communications at Hitler's bunker Wolf's Lair.
- David Bamber portrays Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Germany. During Bamber's audition for the role, Singer was struck by Bamber's eyes and stated that Bamber had a quality that resonated with Hitler.[12]
- Thomas Kretschmann portrays Major Otto Ernst Remer, commanding officer of Großdeutschland guard battalion. Kretschmann was the original choice to play von Stauffenberg before Singer joined the production, when McQuarrie was intending to direct.[13]
- Harvey Friedman portrays Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda and a member of Hitler's inner circle.
- Kenneth Cranham portrays Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, the head of the OKW and a member of Hitler's inner circle.
- Matthias Freihof portrays Heinrich Himmler, the head of Schutzstaffel and a member of Hitler's inner circle.
- Philipp von Schulthess portrays Major General Henning von Tresckow's aide. Von Schulthess is the grandson of Claus von Stauffenberg.[14]
Other portrayals of Nazis included Gerhard Haase-Hindenberg as Hermann Göring, Anton Algrang as Albert Speer, Werner Daehn as Major Ernst John von Freyend, Waldemar Kobus as Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorf, Tom Hollander as Colonel Heinz Brandt, Helmut Stauss as Dr. Roland Freisler, Matthew Burton as Lieutenant-General Adolf Heusinger, Bernard Hill as a General working with Stauffenberg in Tunisia, and Ian McNeice as the composite "Pompous General" who attempts to disrupt the coup headquarters. Though the general is not named in the film, McQuarrie and Alexander said the character was based on General Joachim von Kortzfleisch, who tried to disrupt the coup in the same fashion. Patrick Wilson was originally cast in Valkyrie, but he dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and other unspecified reasons.[15] Stephen Fry was also offered a role in the film but was unable to participate.[16]
Some of the non-German actors initially experimented with German accents, but Singer discarded the idea, instead instructing them to adopt neutral accents that "[wouldn't] distract from the story".[7] Singer added he was not making a docu-drama and wanted to make the story engaging.[6]
[edit] Production
[edit] Development
In 2002, Christopher McQuarrie visited Berlin while researching another project and visited the memorial to von Stauffenberg at the Bendlerblock. Researching the July 20 plot, he was moved and fascinated by the fact that the conspirators were fully aware of what would happen if they failed their assassination attempt, and he wanted to make their story more well-known.[17] He approached Nathan Alexander to co-write the film, and Alexander began researching the project.[13] McQuarrie sought to model the story after the 2001 TV film Conspiracy, which depicted the Wannsee Conference at which the Nazis planned the Final Solution.[17] He also sought to direct the film, until he realized that adequate financing would only be secured with Bryan Singer directing.[13]
After Singer completed the three major productions X-Men (2000), X2 (2003) and Superman Returns (2006), he sought a smaller project before embarking upon the eventually aborted sequel to Superman Returns.[7][18] Singer and McQuarrie had often made World War II films in their backyards while growing up in New Jersey, and Singer had later dealt with Nazi subject matter in Apt Pupil and X-Men.[19] Singer first learned of the plot in the early 1980s when his mother visited Bonn and met Freya von Moltke, widow of Helmuth von Moltke, a founder of the Kreisau Circle resistance group.[20] After learning of McQuarrie and Alexander's screenplay and signing on to direct, Singer read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer to gain deeper understanding of Nazi Germany's political landscape, and also met with one of Hitler's bodyguards, Rochus Misch,[21] who was the last person to leave the bunker where Hitler committed suicide. The creative team acknowledged the ambiguity over the enigmatic von Stauffenberg's true motivation, but Singer and McQuarrie judged him to be a man of ethics just from what he did.[6] Though McQuarrie sought for Valkyrie to be similar to Conspiracy, Singer had bigger ambitions for the film, wanting it to be more than "old men in rooms, talking". Singer looked back on his decision, saying, "The true story had all the makings of a classic assassination thriller... I knew if I could keep the audience with [von] Stauffenberg, with his mission, they would go with the flow and be less inclined to start hypothesising on things from history."[17]
McQuarrie suggested they bring the project to United Artists partners Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, who immediately agreed to finance the film in March 2007.[22] Singer invited Tom Cruise to take the lead role, which Cruise accepted.[23] Cruise had been provided a picture of von Stauffenberg, in which the actor noticed a similarity in his profile with the German colonel, drawing him to the role.[2] The director and the screenwriter initially anticipated Valkyrie as a "small" film with a budget of under US$20 million and to be completed within several months,[24][25] but Cruise's interest in playing von Stauffenberg made Singer realize his involvement could broaden the film's publicity and therefore its budget.[9] The film's budget was then raised to $60 million.[26] The director considered calling the film Operation Valkyrie, not wanting to use a generic action film title. The film's English-language title was ultimately titled Valkyrie because Singer felt that the film was about more than the operation and liked its connection to Wagner's music.[27]
Germany's Finance Ministry had originally denied the producers the right to film at Bendlerblock, explaining that the site should be treated as a "place of remembrance and mourning" which would "lose dignity if we were to exploit it as a film set". The producers were also denied a request to film at a Berlin police station by the department, citing adverse impact to the facility.[28] The German government eventually had a change of heart concerning the Bendlerblock site and gave permission for filmmakers to shoot there.[29] A United Artists spokesman said that they were "very grateful" for the decision, saying that the site "[had] always been important to us symbolically, creatively and for the sake of historical authenticity" and that the company had been in continuous talks with the German government in order to clear up any misconceptions about the nature of the film.[30] The Memorial to the German Resistance also helped filmmakers by permitting them access to their materials and documents.[31] German military pageantry was shaped by referring to the recorded material and input from military advisers.[4]
[edit] Writing
McQuarrie and Alexander researched first-hand accounts, photos, newsreels and texts. They also examined Gestapo and SS records, as the organizations had been meticulous in reconstructing the events of the conspiracy in its aftermath. A timeline of events was created, from which McQuarrie and Alexander shaped the script. After production began in Berlin, the writers were able to visit locations and meet with relatives of the conspirators; these meetings informed changes made to the script during filming.[13]
The initial scenes of von Stauffenberg in Tunisia were written to provide historical context to the rest of the film. The scenes were written with the intention of communicating the complexity of the situation—including references to the Holocaust—without being too obvious. The writers also wanted to evoke the spirit of the resistance and convey the ongoing disgust of the German officers. McQuarrie and Alexander found the most difficult task was in conveying the motives of the conspirators; von Stauffenberg especially remained an enigma, though the writers believed he and the other resistance members to be propelled by their moral outrage. McQuarrie and Alexander attempted to include a scene of von Stauffenberg's witnessing an atrocity, but because he was a supply officer he had little exposure to many of those that occurred. Though he witnessed some—such as the starvation of the Russians—they believed it difficult to dramatize von Stauffenberg's being compelled to action by "field reports". They also had difficulties with Hitler's portrayal; in researching his speeches, they struggled to find one in which he made overtly villainous statements.[13]
[edit] Filming
Filming began on July 18, 2007 in Berlin.[32] Production of Valkyrie was then estimated to have a budget of US$80 million, with two-thirds to be spent in Germany.[33] The German Federal Film Fund issued €4.8 million[34] (US$6.64 million) to United Artists to assist with production.[33] The filmmakers received permission to film at Tempelhof International Airport's Columbia Haus, a former Nazi jail for political prisoners. Production also involved World War II planes with swastikas painted on the sides, practicing in the airspace above Brandenburg.[35] Around 70 sets were built for the film.[7] The filmmakers also shot on location at the former Reich Air Ministry Building and the exterior of the house at which von Stauffenberg stayed with his brother.[6][36]
A replica set of Hitler's Eastern Front Headquarters Wolf's Lair was constructed 60 kilometers south of Berlin, though the headquarters' actual location was in modern-day Poland.[35] It took twelve weeks to build.[6] Filming also took place in some of the houses that were used to hide the bombs in 1944.[37] The interior of Hitler's Bavarian residence Berghof was also replicated using film shot by Hitler's consort Eva Braun and designing models of furniture possessed by secretive collectors.[38] The production also made use of surviving Nazi relics, including furniture used by the Reich Ministry and objects that once adorned Hitler's desk.[7] Nazi symbols, the display of which is heavily restricted in Germany, were also used at several locations, and while the filmmakers gave forewarnings to local residents,[32] a passerby witnessing the use of swastikas during filming in Berlin filed an official complaint with the city. Similar charges have also been filed against the owners of sites set up to show Nazi displays for the film's production.[39] Filming also took place at Babelsberg Studios.[40] During filming on August 19, 2007, eleven people were hurt when the side panel of a truck they were riding broke, with one person requiring hospitalization.[41] They demanded $11 million in compensation, rejecting a settlement offered by the studio.[42]
Before filming the scene of von Stauffenberg's execution at Bendlerblock, Tom Cruise led the cast and crew in holding a moment of silence,[43] "out of respect for the place and out of respect for the life achievement of these people who were executed there," according to actor Christian Berkel.[44] After filming of the scene was completed, the footage was sent to be developed for the post-production process at a processing plant in Germany. The wrong chemical was accidentally used in development, damaging the film and requiring the crew to seek permission from the government to re-shoot the scenes. Permission was granted and a spokesman for the film indicated the schedule and budget had not been affected.[45][46]
Singer and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel chose different styles for the separate halves of the film. Elegant camerawork such as cranes were used as the plot builds to the attempt on Hitler's life, and the second half is frantic with handheld cinematography as the plotters are hunted down. The colors in the film also become more intense as the story continues. Sigel focused on red, the color of the Nazi flag, which he felt represented the violence of their ideology. Singer looked towards thrillers of the 1940s and home movies shot by Eva Braun for inspiration. Shooting scenes at night was difficult because presenting historical accuracy of the era required blackouts. Sigel noted in real life, car headlights were used for the firing squad to aim at and execute the plotters in the Bendlerblock.[6] Singer chose to shoot in 1:85 aspect ratio, and since filming took place in Germany, the director used Arriflex cameras with Zeiss lenses.[4]
The Tunisia battle sequence that opened the film was the last major sequence filmed. The filmmakers wanted to avoid the appearance that von Stauffenberg wanted to kill Hitler because of the injuries he suffered in the battle. They began a rough cut in October 2007, and between then and June 2008, there were several test screenings without the battle sequence. By June 2008, the filmmakers felt that they knew how to adequately frame the characters when filming the battle sequence.[47] Singer scouted Jordan and Spain for locations, but the candidates did not meet the aesthetic and economic criteria.[4] The Cougar Buttes desert in California was ultimately chosen to represent Tunisia.[48] Since the production budget was adjusted to provide visual effects to make von Stauffenberg's injuries realistic, not enough was left for solely computer-generated fighter planes. Singer instead used two P-40 Warhawks in the battle sequence.[38] The budget increased in the course of production due to the filming in Germany, the rebuilding of sets, and lost shooting days, but German tax rebates tempered the growth.[26] The studio reported its final production budget to be $75 million, but competing studios believed it to be closer to $90 million.[49]
[edit] Visual effects
The film's visual effects were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks, who collaborated with Bryan Singer on Superman Returns. The VFX company's two key goals were to accurately portray von Stauffenberg's injuries and to create a 1943 period look to Berlin.[50] With many explosions and stunts seen in the film performed practically, the majority of the 800 computer-generated effects shots were used to portray von Stauffenberg's injuries.[9] A digital version of Cruise's hand was designed, and VFX employees rotoscoped the hand in every movement it could make so the missing fingers were erased in the process. With many close-ups of von Stauffenberg's hand with missing fingers, the injuries were textured to look like actual scars, particularly based on surgical procedures from 1943. Cruise asked for advice on how to best move his hands so visual effects would be easier to apply, but some challenges, such as von Stauffenberg getting dressed on his own, were inescapable. According to VFX supervisor Rich Hoover, "We know from historical accounts that von Stauffenberg didn't stick his hands in his pockets to try and hide his injuries."[50]
For the battle sequence in North Africa, the two actual P-40 Warhawks used were accompanied by cloned images of them or by computer-generated planes. In scenes showing squadrons of soldiers, digital extras were not used; instead, photography of real squadrons was cloned. Sony Pictures Imageworks also digitally expanded details on stage locations and at practical locations. The exterior of Hitler's Bavarian residence Berghof was digitally created, since little was left of the original structure, and the creation was superimposed on a shot of a ski area in Austria. In Berlin itself, city officials helped reduce the need for visual effects by removing power poles and modern lighting over the weekend when filming took place and restoring the equipment by the start of the new week.[50]
[edit] Editing and scoring
As with his previous collaborations with Bryan Singer on The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns and X2, editor and composer John Ottman edited the film without a temp track, noting if the film was working well without music, it was becoming a strong product.[51] Since Valkyrie drew its inspirations from previous World War II films like The Great Escape (1963), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Patton (1970), and Midway (1976), filmmakers initially had a cut where title cards introduced characters and their roles. When the cut was test screened with an American audience, the title cards were removed due to complaints that there were too many characters to follow.[13]
Ottman said the challenge on Valkyrie was to create tension from dialogue scenes, and he often reshaped scenes to do this: moments rather than whole scenes were cut from the film.[25] Being historically accurate meant Ottman was more restricted in reorganizing scenes, but he was able to choose what lines and close-ups he could focus on.[52] Ottman said the scene he was most saddened to delete was a scene where von Stauffenberg dances with his wife because he had been looking forward to scoring it.[25]
Ottman originally planned to compose a minimal score to Valkyrie, but found that despite the film's dialogue-heavy nature, the film needed music to create a thriller atmosphere. Ottman described the new approach, "It's very much like Usual Suspects – in order to keep the tension going in a scene where there's really a lot of dialogue, we had to rely on a lot of score. But the score is done in a very sort of pulsating, subliminal way. It's not an expository score, it's more like a running pulse going through the movie."[53] Singer applied an imaginary metronome, "which only began clicking" when he watched scenes where the pace was becoming faster. He had a specific theme he wanted for the film, which was more modern than the "The Winds of War"-type score he expected Ottman to do.[52] Another challenge in composing thriller music was that the score needed to "slowly lapse" into the tragedy of the film's ending.[54] The finished score has some percussion instruments and few brass, but no snare drums or trumpets, which were the conventions Singer and Ottman avoided.[52]
Ottman had to compose music for the North African battle before the scene was shot, because booking space to record film music is difficult. Although he found that composing music based on the script results in overlong pieces, he felt the music worked out fine for the sequence. The film's end credits piece, "They'll Remember You", is an original composition, but the lyrics were based on the poem Wanderer's Nightsong by German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.[51] An end piece entitled "Long Live Sacred Germany" was inspired by Adagio for Strings, in the sense it would not feel like film music tailored to every moment in the scene, but still fit with what was going on. Ottman described the original version of the track as a "three minute drone that I slowed down with these two Tuvan throat singers, the whole thing was this horribly dark, morbid piece [which] left you cold." Ottman composed a metallic motif for Hitler, which was formed by low strings and a piano cluster.[52]
[edit] Germans' response to production
| Stauffenberg played an important role in the military resistance against the Nazi regime and in the [German military's] self-perception [...] A sincere and respectable depiction of the events of the 20th of July and of Stauffenberg is therefore very much in Germany's interest. Tom Cruise, with his Scientology background, is not the right person for this. —German Defense Ministry Spokesperson Harald Kammerbauer, June 2007.[39] |
In June 2007, prior to production, a German Defense Ministry spokesperson said that filming of Valkyrie would not be allowed at the country's military sites if protagonist Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was portrayed by Tom Cruise, due to the actor's adherence to Scientology, which is regarded as a dangerous cult by the German authorities. The spokesperson further indicated that the ministry had not at that time received official filming requests from Valkyrie's producers.[55] Colonel von Stauffenberg's son also voiced concerns over Cruise's portrayal of his father, saying that he would not oppose the film's production, but hoped that Cruise would drop the role. "I fear that only terrible kitsch will come out of the project. It's bound to be rubbish," Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg said. "Cruise should keep his hands off my father."[56] Later in the month, the ministry reversed its stance and welcomed production of Valkyrie. The initial controversy reportedly stemmed from German member of parliament Antje Blumenthal, an authority on cults for the Christian Democratic Union and well-known opponent of Scientology, who had claimed that the German Defense Minister had assured her that the film would not be shot in the country.[57] In addition, Cruise was attacked by junior politicians such as Rudolf Köberle, the state secretary for interior issues in the state of Baden-Württemberg, who also cited Cruise's affiliation with Scientology.[58] Thomas Gandow, a spokesperson for the German Protestant Church, said Cruise's involvement in the film would "have the same propaganda advantages for Scientology as the 1936 Olympics had for the Nazis" and compared the actor to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.[59]
| Some of the family have spoken out because they don't think it will do the story justice and others don't think the casting is ideal, but I totally disagree, especially after I met Tom and saw how he is approaching the role with such professionalism. I think most of the family are curious to see the finished film. —Philipp von Schulthess, grandson of Colonel von Stauffenberg, September 2007.[60] |
The film subsequently found local support in Germany. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck saw that Cruise's involvement would promote awareness of a neglected story,[28] and veteran German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl also gave his support to the production.[35] A grandson of Colonel von Stauffenberg, who appeared in the film as an assistant, hailed Cruise's professionalism and indicated that most of his family were curious to see the finished product.[60] In September 2007, when the Defense Ministry initially denied permission for filming at the Bendlerblock memorial, support for the film came in from German newspaper columnists and filmmakers, including director Wolfgang Petersen[29] and Frank Schirrmacher, journalist and co-publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Schirrmacher visited the set and agreed that the film would advance global awareness of the German Resistance. Ultimately granting access to the Bendlerblock after reviewing the script, the Defense Ministry said it showed that "barbarism didn't triumph but led to the founding of a democratic Germany". Ursula Caberta, who is in charge of a German government office which monitors Scientology, was disappointed in the ministry's decision, saying, "Tom Cruise [is] a figurehead of an anti-constitutional organization, and he should be treated that way."[39]
A spokesperson for Scientology in Berlin, Sabine Weber, said in August 2007 that she was "shocked" by German politicians' criticisms, adding that it was a "call to discrimination" against someone based on their religious beliefs.[61] In the same month, Cruise suggested to his critics that they see the film before denouncing it.[62] In October 2007, fellow Valkyrie actor Kenneth Branagh said that the issue had been "largely exaggerated" and that the German official who initially incited the complaints contacted the production one week into filming to apologize, after reading the script and realizing he had misinterpreted the film's plot.[37]
In November 2007, the head of the German Resistance Memorial Center warned against any potential "myth formation" around von Stauffenberg as a result of the film, urging that any understanding of the Colonel must also be informed by the fact that he had been loyal to the Nazi cause for most of his military career.[63] In the same month Cruise was given a Bambi courage award, presented by German media company Hubert Burda Media, "for tackling a story that had never been covered by Hollywood before".[64]
[edit] Marketing
Valkyrie was intended to be a high-profile film that would jump-start United Artists, the host studio partly owned by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner.[49] Pressure was placed on Valkyrie to do well since an earlier United Artists film featuring Cruise, Lions for Lambs, performed poorly in the box office, and the studio's planned production of Oliver Stone's Pinkville was canceled.[65] The film changed release dates multiple times.[49] It was originally slated to be released in August 8, 2008,[66] then moved up earlier to June 27, 2008.[67] The film was then held off to October 3, 2008 to avoid competition from WALL-E and Wanted,[68] and to enable the late filming of the North African battle sequence.[26] The October date was also originally chosen to increase the film's chances of awards success.[69] In April 2008, the release date was pushed back to February 13, 2009, with the studio citing the early fall schedule as too crowded with Academy Award prospects.[70] Valkyrie would have taken advantage of the lucrative President's Day weekend, after The Wolfman and The Pink Panther 2 were moved from this date.[71]
In July 2008, United Artists president of worldwide marketing Dennis Rice was replaced by Michael Vollman, who was tasked to develop a marketing strategy for the "troubled" Valkyrie,[72] which had been "battered by constant media sniping".[73] Under Vollman, by August 2008,[74] the release date was changed to December 26, 2008 with reports citing commercial reasons for the move after a successful test screening.[75] (The film was ultimately released on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008.)[76] The release date was before the end of December, which "crucially" helped the film with a home distribution deal with the subscription channel Showtime.[26] In the same month of August, Paula Wagner left her position with the studio during the film's post-production.[77] The changing release date for Valkyrie drew criticism about the viability of United Artists, and the studio aimed to combat the criticism leading up to the film's eventual release.[70] In addition, the first theatrical trailer, released early in 2008, received "mixed buzz" over Tom Cruise's portraying von Stauffenberg with an American accent.[78] The trade paper Variety described the trailer as "dour and ... like it was selling a talky stage play with a cast of old British actors".[79] Images of Tom Cruise as Colonel von Stauffenberg that surfaced during filming were widely ridiculed.[49] Terry Press, a marketing consultant with the studio, said that Valkyrie had been wrongly labeled as "the Tom Cruise eye-patch movie".[74]
As the December release date approached, United Artists launched a campaign to reform public perception of the film, downplaying the role of Tom Cruise as a German war hero and instead pitching Valkyrie as "a character-driven suspense thriller".[49] The new campaign also played up the reputation of director Bryan Singer, who had directed the thrillers The Usual Suspects (1995) and Apt Pupil (1998).[74] Terry Press urged foregoing an awards campaign for the film; Cruise agreed with the consultant, while Singer was disappointed about the decision.[26] Instead, the studio focused on audience appeal in a competitive time frame in late December.[49] A second theatrical trailer and a new poster were unveiled in October 2008 by United Artists to renew Valkyrie's viability with audiences and accolades. The poster was designed to have flashy graphics and to emulate the posters from the war films The Great Escape (1963) and The Dirty Dozen (1967) in having a team as a central visual.[79] The team element was based on market research from the studio's focus groups who indicated that they liked Cruise as "a character leading a group of people toward solving a problem".[74] The new trailer accentuated action, and was widely considered an improvement over the first trailer. An internal MGM memo reported the reception of the trailer by online communities to be "significantly favorable" compared to the previous trailer.[79] The studio sought two demographic quadrants: males over 35 years old as well as younger males.[26] Since United Artists reported that the film cost $75 million to make and that $60 million was spent on marketing, the studio faced high financial stakes. The film also tested the determination of its distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the mettle of Cruise as a superstar.[49]
[edit] Release
[edit] Theatrical run
Prior to Valkyrie's December 2008 release, concern was raised about how the film would be received in the holiday season due to its Nazi subject matter, along with related films The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Reader, Defiance and Good. The Advertising Age wrote during the economic crisis of 2008, "The depressing state of the economy and an alarmingly low level of understanding of the Holocaust among American youth point to a tough road for such serious fare."[80]
Valkyrie opened on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008 in 2,711 theaters in the United States and Canada. The film grossed an estimated $8.5 million for the opening day.[81] In the four day holiday weekend, Valkyrie grossed an estimated $30 million, ranking fourth at the box office with $7,942 per theater.[82] Pamela McClintock of Variety cited the weekend performance as "a victory for United Artists and MGM";[83] Gitesh Pandya of Rotten Tomatoes said the haul represented a "big hit" for the studio. Studio research revealed that audiences averaged 55% male and 66% over 25.[82] Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said that the weekend gross "totally robs the nay-sayers of their ability to deem it a flop", believing that Cruise's comic performance in the previous summer's Tropic Thunder helped audiences embrace the star again. Dergarabedian also ascribed the better-than-expected performance to the studio's marketing of Valkyrie as a thriller film.[84] Since Cruise was collecting a salary of $20 million against 20% of the backend (revenue gathered after the completion of a film) and MGM/UA investment was capped at $60 million, United Artists sold the film to several foreign territories to make money back.[26]
The European premiere was held at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin on January 20, 2009.[85] Valkyrie commercially opened in over a dozen territories outside the United States and Canada on the weekend of January 23, 2009,[86][87] including a premiere in Germany on January 22.[88] The film ranked first in the international box office, grossing over $13 million. It placed first in Germany, Australia, and Holland and placed second in the United Kingdom, Austria and South Korea. Valkyrie's highest-grossing territory was Germany, where it earned $3.7 million from 689 locations, averaging $5,311 per screen.[87] The German opening was considered "a chart-topping yet unspectacular start", barely edging out Twilight, which opened three weeks before.[89] BBC News reported that the premiere of the film has renewed the topic of the German Resistance among the German populace.[90]
The film opened in 13 additional territories on the weekend of January 30, including Russia and Spain.[86] With 3,600 screenings in 26 markets, the film grossed $18.6 million to maintain its top placement at the international box office for a second weekend in a row. Spain was its highest-grossing territory with $2.8 million, followed by Germany with $2.3 million, the United Kingdom with $2 million, and $1.9 million in Italy.[91] As of April 13, 2009, the film has grossed $83,079,000 in the United States and Canada and an estimated $117,198,951 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $200,276,784.[1]
[edit] Anti-Scientology protests
When Valkyrie premiered in New York City on December 15, 2008, it was shown in a private screening room at the Time Warner Center, rather than at a Lincoln Square theater.[93][94][95] The venue was chosen in part to minimize the exposure to Scientology protesters gathered at the Time Warner Center.[96][97] Protesters also appeared at the December 18 Los Angeles screening, where Cruise entered through a tunnel.[97] While the US "red carpet" was held in private, Cruise interacted with fans in South Korea and Europe. There were small anti-Scientology protests at the European premiere in Berlin, where Cruise signed one protester's Guy Fawkes mask.[98][99] Anti-Scientology protests also occurred at the London premiere,[92][100] and Amsterdam[101] where Scientologists in the crowd engaged the protesters.[92][101] The NTV news report about the January 26 Moscow premiere noted that journalists had to sign a document promising not to ask questions about Scientology, and their questions would be censored; to this, the reporter remarked, "You can't help getting reminded of those historic times depicted in Operation Valkyrie."[102]
In Germany, authorities and politicians expressed concern that if the film was successful, it would boost Scientology in the country. German politician Michael Brand encouraged his deputies to boycott Valkyrie, saying that Scientology pursued "totalitarian goals". Germany's Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which monitors the presence of Scientology in the country, expressed concern about the film's impact. An anonymous BfV official said, "These Scientologists have two goals in Germany... to get their message to children, and make their organization respectable. The film does both: it has put a top Scientologist at the center of a national debate about German history."[103]
[edit] Home media
Valkyrie was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 19, 2009 in three configurations: a single DVD edition, a two-DVD set, and a Blu-ray version.[104] Valkyrie opened at #2 on the DVD sales chart, selling 844,000 units translating to revenue of $14,816,833. According to the latest figures, 1,533,200 units have been sold, bringing in $25,790,070 in revenue.[105]
[edit] Critical reception
The movie website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 61% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based upon a sample of 171, with an average score of 6.0/10.[106] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 56 based on 36 reviews.[107] In the United States, the film received mixed reviews from critics.[107][108] In Germany, there were different reports about how Valkyrie was received. The New York Times wrote, "It has been greeted with a measured and hospitable reception in Germany, where it was once viewed with suspicion."[108] The trade paper Variety reported that despite the controversy over Cruise's ties to Scientology, "[I]nitial reviews have been positive, with many observers now hailing Cruise and predicting the pic will even improve the country's image abroad."[109] Der Spiegel said that the film and its supporting actors were praised, but that Cruise was panned by German critics for "a surprisingly low-key performance that fails to convey the charisma with which Stauffenberg inspired fellow plotters".[110] The AFP also said that the German critics "savaged Tom Cruise's portrayal" of von Stauffenberg, yet "relished a homegrown hero getting the Hollywood treatment."[111]
[edit] American critics
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times thought that Cruise gave "a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor" but that von Stauffenberg was too complex a character to adequately portray in a film designed as a thriller. Dargis also wrote of the director's excess, "Though Mr. Singer's old-fashioned movie habits, his attention to the gloss, gleam and glamour of the image, can be agreeably pleasurable, he tends to gild every lily," citing as an example the "spooky music" and "low camera angles" in the meeting between Hitler and von Stauffenberg.[112] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times also found Cruise "perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role", believing that the portrayal fit the "veterans of officer rank" that would not panic under fire; Ebert recognizes that "Singer... works heroically to introduce us to the major figures in the plot, to tell them apart, to explain their roles and to suggest their differences."[113]
Ty Burr of The Boston Globe described the film: "It's a smooth, compelling, almost suspenseful... and slightly hollow Hollywood period piece - a World War II action-drama in which an intriguing (but not electrifying) star performance is buttressed by stellar support." Burr analyzed Cruise's performance: "...his Claus von Stauffenberg is an honorable conception that's ultimately too thin to fully rise up from the pages of history. This story deserves to be told, but for reasons best known to himself, the star has latched onto a strictly Nietzschean interpretation that he rides into the ground."[114] Claudia Puig of USA Today thought of Cruise as "unconvincing and stiff as the disenchanted" von Stauffenberg. She felt that the film started slowly and that "even during scenes of intense action, the visually slick production is only minimally engrossing". She concluded of the film's overall pace, "The action becomes more engrossing during the film's second half, but one expects more depth and nuance, given its pedigree."[115] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker wrote, "[Cruise] carries the movie, although, once you dig beneath the uniform, there isn't much for him to get a handle on; the fascination with Stauffenberg resides in what he did, not in who he was." Lane thought that there was "too much" character acting of the British veteran actors and felt of the casting of Nighy, Stamp, and Wilkinson, "These men are meant to be battle-toughened Nazi officers, but what we get is an array of discreetly amusing studies in mild neurosis."[116]
Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that Valkyrie "has visual splendor galore, but is a cold work lacking in the requisite tension and suspense". McCarthy considered Cruise as "a bit stiff but still adequate" as von Stauffenberg. The critic believed that McQuarrie's script was well-carpentered but felt that compressing and streamlining the events to make a known failed plot more thrilling lacked a "sufficient sizzle into the dialogue or individuality into the characters". McCarthy missed "many of the interesting personal and political nuances pertaining to these men" that were not detailed. He thought that the production design by Lilly Kilvert and Patrick Lumb stood out, that Newton Thomas Sigel's cinematography had a "restrained elegance", and that John Ottman performed well in his dual role as editor and composer.[117]
[edit] German critics
Despite differences over the quality of the film, critics were in agreement that the film had drawn attention to von Stauffenberg's cause.[85] It was applauded "as both as a history lesson and as a film". Tobias Kniebe of the Süddeutsche Zeitung described the film as "maybe not the masterpiece we might have dreamed of ... but not much less", a sentiment shared by many German critics.[88] The public-service German television channel ZDF called Valkyrie "neither scandalously bad nor the event of the century... Neither is it the action thriller we feared, but it is a well-made and serious film." The newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported that any fear that the "myth of the German resistance would be put through a Hollywood filter has turned out to be wrong and prejudicial."[108]
Other critics asserted that Tom Cruise did not "make the grade" as a German war hero. The film critic for Der Tagesspiegel wrote, "[Cruise's] image as an actor has been finally ruined by Valkyrie... [the film] doesn't dare to be popcorn cinema and at the same time lacks any conceptual brilliance." Hanns-Georg Rodek of Die Welt reported of Cruise's performance, "He comes over best as an American hero, someone who battles for respect with aggression and energy. But Stauffenberg was a German hero, with aristocratic bearing, and Cruise cannot carry that off."[118] The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said Cruise's performance was "credible", and reserved praise for the authenticity of the dubbed German-language version of the film over the original.[85]
[edit] Awards and honors
Valkyrie was nominated by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for several Saturn Awards: Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, Best Actor (Tom Cruise), Best Supporting Actor (Bill Nighy), Best Supporting Actress (Carice van Houten), Best Director (Bryan Singer), Best Music (John Ottman), and Best Costume (Joanna Johnston).[119]
[edit] Historical accuracy
The Gestapo investigated the July 20 plot thoroughly, so filmmakers had access to much documentation as they integrated the historical account with "Hollywood factors" in producing Valkyrie.[27] Peter Hoffmann, professor of history at McGill University and a leading authority on the German Resistance, was a consultant for the filmmakers. Hoffmann spoke of the film's accuracy, "[Valkyrie] gives a fundamentally accurate portrait of Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators. There are details which must be counted as liberties. But, fundamentally, the film is decent, respectful and represents the spirit of the conspiracy."[120] The Scotsman reported of the film's accuracy, "Valkyrie... sticks pretty closely to the story of the failed conspiracy to topple the Nazi regime... it implies that the plot came closer to success than it really did. But the basic facts are all present and correct."[121]
While von Stauffenberg listens to Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" in the film, in reality the colonel hated Wagner. In addition, von Stauffenberg's elder brother Berthold was also omitted from the film.[122] Bryan Singer purposely left out some of von Stauffenberg's "macho" moments in writing the character, such as the colonel's refusal of morphine to avoid addiction. He explained the removals, "There were things I actually left out because I knew people would think we were making them up... imagine Tom Cruise saying 'No morphine!' People would think it's a contrivance."[123] In the film, von Haeften steps out in front of von Stauffenberg at the firing range, but when filmmakers attempted to reconstruct the scene based on eyewitness testimony and photographs, they discovered that the shots that killed von Haeften would also have killed von Stauffenberg, who was actually shot shortly after. Another alteration was to the portrayal of Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, played in the film by Kevin McNally. Goerdeler was written in the film to be antagonistic, dramatically representing the friction and conflict that existed within the conspiracy, though filmmakers considered him a "much more moral character" in reality.[13]
British novelist Justin Cartwright, who authored the book The Song Before It Is Sung about one of the plot's conspirators, wrote, "The film is true to most of the facts of the plot, but fails to convey any sense of the catastrophic moral and political vortex into which Germans were being drawn." Though not depicted in the film, von Stauffenberg was persuaded to become involved in the plot by his uncle, Nikolaus Graf von Üxküll-Gyllenband, who was disenchanted with the Nazis. The film also did not explore von Stauffenberg's philosophy and background, which Cartwright felt fit the German tradition of Dichter und Helden ("poets and heroes").Cartwright described how von Stauffenberg was an appropriate leader for the plot: "He was the man who unmistakably wore the mantle of a near-mystic German past, a warrior Germany, a noble Germany, a poetic Germany, a Germany of myth and longing." The novelist felt that Cruise's portrayal was more akin to one as a "troublesome cop". Cartwright also noted that the film did not raise the question of what kind of Germany von Stauffenberg had in mind if the plot succeeded.[124]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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- ^ Thomas, Archie (January 27, 2009). "'Valkyrie' steps out in Europe". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999124.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2564. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ Payne, Dan (January 24, 2009). "The national hero dividing Germans". news.bbc.co.uk (BBC News). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7847581.stm. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ^ McNary, Dave (February 1, 2009). "'Valkyrie' mission on target overseas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999414.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2564. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
- ^ a b c "Protesters at Tom's premiere". Sympatico/MSN/Splash News. January 22, 2009. http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-ca&brand=sympatico&vid=9473d822-545e-4152-8333-b200e31ead77&from=imbot_en-ca_m_1824&fg=rss. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ Smart, Gordon (December 16, 2008). "Tom turns back time". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/usa/article2043075.ece. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Harmsworth, Andrei (December 16, 2008). "Cruise:_Talk_about_my_films,_not_Scientology&in_article_id=447493&in_page_id=7 Cruise: Talk about my films, not Scientology". Metro. http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.htm Cruise:_Talk_about_my_films,_not_Scientology&in_article_id=447493&in_page_id=7. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Friedman, Roger (December 15, 2008). "Cruise 'Feeble' in Valkyrie". foxnews.com (Fox News Channel). http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,466948,00.html. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
- ^ Hazlett, Courtney (December 15, 2008). "Group bungles protest at 'Valkyrie' premiere". msnbc.com (MSNBC). http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28240738/. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
- ^ a b Hall, Alan (December 19, 2008). "Slender Tom Cruise takes to the red carpet for premiere.... but anti-Scientology protesters steal the show again". Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1097098/Tom-Cruise-takes-red-carpet-premiere---anti-Scientology-protesters-steal-again.html. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
- ^ "Anonymous vs. Scientology: Tom Cruise signiert Maske" (in German). Heise Online (Heinz Heise). January 21, 2008. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Anonymous-vs-Scientology-Tom-Cruise-signiert-Maske--/meldung/122098. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
- ^ (in German) Punkt 9. RTL Television. 2008-01-21. Event occurs at 0:11:06-0:12:53.
- ^ "Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes at the premiere of Valkyrie in London". Telegraph.co.uk. January 22, 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/celebritynews/4313741/Tom-Cruise-and-Katie-Holmes-at-the-premiere-of-Valkyrie-in-London.html?image=7. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ a b "'Yeah, Tom Cruise,' klinkt het" (in Dutch). Parool.nl (Het Parool). January 23, 2009. http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/132221/2009/01/23/Yeah-Tom-Cruise-klinkt-het.dhtml. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ Goldenzweig, Konstantin (January 26, 2009). "В Москве прошла «Операция „Валькирия"»" (in Russian). Segodnya ("Today") (NTV). http://news.ntv.ru/149042/.
- ^ Boyes, Roger (January 24, 2009). "Fears of Scientology 'plot' as Tom Cruise film Valkyrie takes cinemas by storm". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5576408.ece. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ^ Latchem, John (March 10, 2009). "WWII Thriller 'Valkyrie' Lands May 19". Home Media Magazine (Questex Media Group, Inc.). http://www.homemediamagazine.com/just-announced/wwii-thriller-valkyrie-lands-may-19-14973. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
- ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/VALKR-DVD.php
- ^ "Valkyrie Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/valkyrie/. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
- ^ a b "Valkyrie (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/valkyrie. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ a b c Itzkoff, David (December 29, 2008). "Germany Hospitable to Cruise's 'Valkyrie'". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/arts/30arts-GERMANYHOSPI_BRF.html. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Thomas, Archie (January 23, 2009). "'Valkyrie' lands in Germany, U.K.". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117998984.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2564. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
- ^ "Stauffenberg's Daughter Praises 'Valkyrie'". Der Spiegel. January 20, 2009. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,602336,00.html. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
- ^ "German critics maul Cruise as anti-Hitler hero". Agence France-Presse. January 19, 2009. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jYbsPxTQY3mhtHXeqJhYprcWgiZQ. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (December 25, 2008). "Mission Imperative: Assassinate the Führer". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/movies/25valk.html. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (December 22, 2008). "Valkyrie". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081222/REVIEWS/812229989. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ Burr, Ty (December 25, 2008). "Mission: truly impossible". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=10741. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Puig, Claudia (December 23, 2008). "Tom Cruise fails to convince in sluggish 'Valkyrie'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2008-12-23-valkyrie_N.htm. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Lane, Anthony (January 5, 2009). "Private Wars". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/01/05/090105crci_cinema_lane. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ McCarthy, Todd (December 10, 2008). "Valkyrie Movie Review". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=review&id=film&reviewid=VE1117939192. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
- ^ Boyes, Roger (December 18, 2008). "German critics slate Tom Cruise's performance in Valkyrie". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5358878.ece. Retrieved December 24, 2008.
- ^ "Nominations for the 35th Annual Saturn Awards". saturnawards.org. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. http://www.saturnawards.org/nominations.html. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
- ^ Slotek, Jim (December 21, 2008). "Stauffenberg clan not like Mafia: Grandson". London Free Press. http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/SundayEnt/2008/12/21/7818236-sun.html. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ Sandbrook, Dominic (January 26, 2009). "The past masters: Hollywood and history". The Scotsman. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/The-past-masters-Hollywood-and.4911431.jp. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ^ "Tom Cruise fehlt einfach die Coolness" (in German). Die Welt. January 17, 2009. http://www.welt.de/kultur/article3043761/Tom-Cruise-fehlt-einfach-die-Coolness.html. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
- ^ Roach, Vicky (January 22, 2009). "Valkyrie director Bryan Singer praises Tom Cruise". Herald Sun. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24949622-5006023,00.html. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ^ Cartwright, Justin (January 10, 2009). "Secret Germany". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/10/valkrie-tom-cruise-hitler-plot. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Valkyrie at the Internet Movie Database
- Valkyrie at Box Office Mojo
- Valkyrie at Rotten Tomatoes
- Valkyrie at Metacritic
| ||||||||
First crash couple - Uninvited socialites at White House event | ||
| OUR BUREAU | ||
Washington, Nov. 26: Two social butterflies breezed uninvited into what is considered the planet's most secure place, fluttering around Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama at the White House state dinner on Tuesday. Michaele and Tareq Salahi, wine and polo promoters from Virginia, showed up around 7.15pm halfway through the guest arrivals. A Marine announced their names and Michaele, a glittering model-thin blonde decked out in a red-and-gold sari and holding the hand of her black-tuxedoed escort, swept past camera crews and reporters. The couple, both in their 40s, stopped several times to pose for pictures and then entered the White House lower hallway, where they mingled with guests on the red carpet before heading up to the cocktail reception in the East Room. A White House official confirmed the Salahis had not been invited nor seated for dinner at the tent. A spokesperson for the Secret Service — responsible for presidential security — acknowledged a checkpoint had not followed "proper procedures" but suggested Obama or Singh was in no danger. The White House has asked the Secret Service for a "full review" of how the couple got into the state dinner. The controversy could cast a cloud on the first-ever Indo-US polo match being planned in Washington on June 11 and 12 next year as part of America's efforts to promote people-to-people contact. The Salahis, organisers of the America's Polo Cup held at Washington's National Mall, are the prime movers behind the June match, billed the India vs USA America's Polo Cup World Championships. The Indian embassy may find it tricky to involve itself with the project after the security breach — probably the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner. Pictures the couple posted later on their Facebook page appeared to show them posing inside the South Lawn dinner tent with Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and a grinning Vice-President Joe Biden. But the photos end there — no shots of the Salahis sitting at a table, their seatmates or the post-dinner entertainment — and it wasn't clear how close they got to Obama and Michelle, or to Singh and Gursharan Kaur. The Salahis "went through magnetometers and other levels of security, as did all (the 300-plus) guests attending the dinner", the White House official said. In the US, Singh is protected by the Secret Service as well as India's SPG. The Prime Minister, included in the high-risk security category, enjoys the same protection as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. A photograph on Michaele Salahi's Facebook profile showed the couple drinking wine at the Indian embassy with deputy chief of Indian mission Arun K. Singh for the kickoff of a polo match earlier this year. Diplomat Singh was a guest at Tuesday's state dinner. Hours after the dinner, there was another unpublicised security tizzy around Manmohan Singh's 10am media conference on Wednesday at a room in the hotel Villard Intercontinental. Under the rules, the room should have been sanitised 12 hours earlier but camerapersons and their equipment were allowed in without X-ray checks. When the SPG realised this, the assembled journalists were told to go to another room and sniffer dogs were brought in to sanitise the conference room. But how could the White House breach happen? White House security is usually discreet, unlike the seemingly obtrusive layers that surround Indian VIP establishments. The state dinner was the first for the Obama White House and the stress was not to step on too many toes. A former White House senior staffer -- who more than a decade ago encountered a crasher at one of the executive mansion's less-fancy parties -- offered this theory: a savvy pair of crashers, dressed to the nines, might arrive and announce their names, then express shock when the security failed to find them on the guest list. On a rainy night like Tuesday, with a crowd of 300-plus arriving, security might have lost track of or granted a modicum of sympathy to a pair who certainly looked as though they belonged there. If their IDs didn't send up any red flags in the screening process, they would be sent through the magnetometers and into the White House. And yet, the former staffer noted, someone from the White House social office should have been posted at the guest entrance. The Salahis had indeed arrived in style. "Hey, that's a Desperate Housewife!" one reporter yelled out, alluding to the TV series, as Michaele --- a former Redskins cheerleader ---- arrived at the White House entrance with Tareq. The couple have been auditioning for a possible role in a housewives TV franchise, but a different one: The Real Housewives of Washington. Once they were in, no one would necessarily ask them for further identification. They could check their coats, give their names to the Marine on duty, and walk into the lower hallway where guests picked up their table assignments. They would pass the junior staffers handing out seating cards and walk on up the stairs for cocktails in the East Room. Later, all guests were directed to head for the dinner tent. Facebook photos suggest the Salahis walked into the tent; it's unclear when they left. There is no security checkpoint to leave the grounds. The White House, built in 1800, was open to the public till the early 20th century, with Thomas Jefferson holding an open house for his second inaugural in 1805, and a crowd of 20,000 at Andrew Jackson's 1829 inauguration forcing him to leave for a hotel. Abraham Lincoln complained he was constantly badgered by job seekers in the White House. Security personnel sometimes tend to be at ease in Washington, possibly lulled by the mystique surrounding the American capital and a perception, partly promoted by Hollywood, of invincibility associated with the world's mightiest military power. In 2000, the visiting Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was staying at Blair House, opposite the White House, when an Indian American walked up to his room to seek his blessings, sweeping past two layers of Secret Service-SPG security. It was only when the intruder reached the door of Vajpayee's room that the guards realised the breach. Old-timers recalled a similar security breach in Delhi: the visiting Indonesia President, Sukarno, left Rashtrapati Bhavan at night for a private visit in Delhi without informing security. When he returned later at night, strobe lights were switched off one after the other on the lawn, which some interpreted as a hint of displeasure by the security agencies. The Salahis were pleased with their efforts and left a message on Michaele's Facebook page: "Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" By 8.15 Indian time tonight, the page had drawn over 250 messages. "Glad it was you, and not someone with malicious intent, who tested and beat White House security," wrote Joe Galietta. Many of the nearly 250 messages were negative. "You are absolutely pathetic. People will really do anything for attention," said one Facebook user. Another comment read: "Enjoy going to jail." "Tareq Salahi wikipedia" and "Michaele Salahi wiki" were the hottest related searches in Google hot trends. A woman describing herself as a publicist for the Salahis denied they were interlopers. Mahogany Jones's statement said: "The Salahis were honored to be a part of such a prestigious event…. They both had a wonderful time." The Salahis have long been controversial. Last year, the America's Polo Cup drew a lawsuit from a caterer over alleged non-payment. The couple have had a long-running feud with Tareq's parents, Dirgham and Corinne Salahi, over control of the family's Oasis Winery in Virginia. Tareq had accused his mother's attorney of punching him; the lawyer was found not guilty. Court records show that Oasis filed for bankruptcy in February, with Tareq listed as "debtor designee". Hours before the White House denied the Salahis were legitimate guests, The Washington Post asked the couple via Facebook how they happened to attend the dinner. Tareq responded: "India is the challenger in the America's Polo Cup World Championships June 11/12 2010, and they are very excited in this first ever cultural connection being hosted on the DC National Mall since Polo is one of the primary sports in India." Pressed about why they did not appear on the official list, he added: "It was last-minute attending." | ||
| WITH INPUTS FROM NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE AND LOS ANGELES TIMES-WASHINGTON POST NEWS SERVICE |
26/11 to Maoists: a soldier's war | ||||||||
| SUJAN DUTTA | ||||||||
New Delhi, Nov. 26: Forty-eight-year-old Raj Kishore Prasad is a fighter pilot whose tear-filled eyes reflect competing conflicts in the country, so violently has his life swung from 26/11 to a Maoist attack on his family. A son of parents who were forcibly evicted from their land, along with tribals, by the government in Jharkhand, Group Captain Raj Kishore Prasad now wants to use his special skills to hunt down the militants. Many of the tribals who were evicted like his parents are Maoist supporters. Raj Kishore was the director on duty at the operations centre in Vayu Sena Bhavan, Air Headquarters, in New Delhi on the night of November 26-27 exactly a year ago. The Directorate of Air Operations is also called the "war room". Its personnel work 24 hours, monitoring and clearing air traffic. He was the point man for the Western Air Command, Union home ministry and the National Security Guard, mobilising aircraft to fly commandos to Mumbai and alerting the Indian Air Force's own helicopter squadrons. Today, the fighter pilot who has flown 1,000 hours in a MiG-21 combat jet and has since converted to flying helicopters, is eager to use his training in special operations against the Maoists. He is angry that they kidnapped his brother in June this year, from McCluskie Ganj, once a resort favoured by Anglo-Indians and celebrities from Calcutta, in Jharkhand. Raj Kishore felt humiliated because the Maoists forced him "to go around with a begging bowl" to raise the Rs 10 lakh they had demanded as ransom. After 28 years in service in the IAF, he still does not have Rs 10 lakh in his provident fund, his friends say. (A group captain earns about Rs 1 lakh a month since the recommendations of the sixth pay commission were implemented earlier this year.) The fighter pilot has met defence minister A.K. Antony and home secretary G.K. Pillai. He has written to home minister P. Chidambaram detailing his circumstances and making his plea that he be allowed to hunt down Maoists. The IAF has asked the government for permission to open fire in self-defence. Antony told Parliament yesterday that the government was framing the "rules of engagement" in the offensive against the Maoists. Military service rules bar Raj Kishore from speaking to the media but a soulmate of the officer told The Telegraph: "Raj wants his actions legitimised, he does not want to be called a murderer." The group captain's story is now told and retold by his friends and serving officers in the armed forces, many of whom, like him, come from families that have reared professional soldiers for generations. Raj Kishore's father B.N. Prasad, now 80, retired from the army after moving up the ranks to honorary captain. His younger brother Shyam Kishore Prasad, 44, who was taken hostage, retired from the army after 12 years in service. Raj Kishore's son Ashwin was this year commissioned into the IAF as a flying officer and is now a MiG-21 combat pilot like his father was. Raj Kishore's daughter Neha, 20, has opted to go into the army. She has been selected for the Officers' Training Academy, Chennai, which trains women for the Short Service Commission.
So moved was a retired colonel, a former batchmate of Raj Kishore's since his days in the National Defence Academy, that he published the letter to Chidambaram in a trade journal, the Indian Defence Review. Like Raj Kishore, the armed forces are fed up with police. "The superintendent of police in Ranchi and the other officers were useless," one officer said. "These people cannot distinguish the barrel of an LMG (light machine gun) from its butt," said another. Raj Kishore, his friends said, is acutely aware how poverty and anger have fuelled the Maoists' movement. He built his house in McCluskie Ganj after his family, along with others from nearly 20 villages, was forcibly evicted by the government because it wanted to use the land for coal mining. At that time, the family had about eight acres and lived in a village off the Ranchi-Hazaribagh road. The total compensation amounted to Rs 6.5 lakh, which was shared by his father and brother. In most of the villages, the tribals either got nothing or paltry amounts. Using his savings and those of his father and an elder brother, Raj Kishore built two houses in McCluskie Ganj — one for his immediate family and the other for his parents. Another elder brother is mentally challenged and has to be cared for. Shyam Kishore, Raj Kishore's younger brother, took premature retirement to care for the family. He is now a technical hand with Central Coalfields. On June 16 this year, Raj Kishore drove from Delhi to McCluskie Ganj with his wife and daughter. The family halted for the night in Allahabad. The next day, shortly after reaching McCluskie Ganj, he walked over to his parents' house from his own. It was dusk. There was a power failure and even the mobile phone network was switched off because there was no supply to the transmitter. Raj Kishore was taken aback when he saw about 15 youths around his parents' house. One of them, obviously the leader, who was about 30 years old, came up to him and asked who he was and what his business was. He told them and asked for Shyam Kishore. "Bhaiyya, tu aa gaya (brother, have you come)?" a feeble voice from behind the house asked. Raj Kishore walked around and found Shyam Kishore surrounded by more youths holding what looked like country-made rifles to him. The youths left, taking Shyam Kishore with them. The parents and the brothers were panicky. Raj Kishore informed police the next morning. Around 4pm, his phone rang. The call was from his brother's number. It was from the kidnappers. They demanded two self-loading rifles or Rs 10 lakh in cash. His father pleaded with them, to no avail. "I must confess that it was heartrending for me to witness the helplessness of the man who had never compromised his dignity and honour and who had fought all the wars for the country from 1948 to1971," wrote Raj Kishore in his account to Chidambaram. The kidnappers set a 24-hour deadline and asked his 80-year-old father to reach Tori village on a two-wheeler with the cash. Raj Kishore was bereft. He sought help from acquaintances he had made during a posting in Ranchi where he was director with the National Cadet Corps "trying to make soldiers out of hungry tribals". Two old builder/contractor friends provided the bulk of the amount and others pitched in with smaller sums. Raj Kishore kept the police informed of his movements even as he followed his father to the appointed place. It was nearly 11 in the night when his father came out of the jungles with Shyam Kishore. Raj Kishore told the home minister that even after that the police, who had given him the impression they would go after the kidnappers, did not move. Instead, police officers briefed him on the histories of the different Naxalite factions and told him that the gang that had taken his brother hostage was with the Maoists but had since fallen out. It is only a matter of months, Raj Kishore wrote to the home minister, before "these gun-toting, trigger-happy youths roam the streets of Jharkhand with rockets and grenade launchers and the latest automatic weapons, much like the Taliban in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province". Air power must be used because the ground forces (the police) have been overtaken by the Maoists, he told superiors in the defence and home ministries. "I have also flown helicopters in the IAF for 10 years and qualified in special operations. I sincerely feel I would be able to evolve strategies and tactics for aerial operations to effectively neutralise such rogue elements in a respectable time frame," he wrote to Chidambaram. |
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that his evening with the Obamas at the state dinner in...It was not just a gatecrashing couple that marred President Barack Obama's first state dinner Tuesday night in honour of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The New York Times found fault with the menu too - literally.
The banquet hosted by US president Barack Obama on Tuesday was a "unique experience" and "one of the best dinners".
The Secret Service is investigating how a couple aspiring to be reality-show celebrities managed to appear at President Obamas first state dinner.
The Virginia couple accused of crashing President Obama's first White House state dinner on Tuesday are named in at least 16 different civil suits in Fauquier County, sometimes as plaintiffs, sometimes as defendants.
The couple had not been invited White House state dinner.
Horrified and red-faced security officials are now investigating how Tareq and Michaele Salahi, a Washington DC area couple, managed to get into the White House without an invitation.
Washington: An unprecedented security breach took place at the high-profile black tie state dinner when a Virginia couple entered the White House uninvited and had a wonderful time in the company of President Barack ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will not be in Afghanistan eight years from now, the White House said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama prepared to explain to Americans next week why he is expanding the war effort.
There were uninvited guests at the White House State where Manmohan-Obama dined on Tuesday.
The Secret Service is investigating how an uninvited couple was admitted to US President Barack Obama's White House state dinner, penetrating layers of security.
Secret Service investigating reports that US reality TV hopefuls breached White House security to attend state dinner The step up from socialite to celebrity can be a tricky one. In the UK this is usually achieved through a romantic tryst with a famous person, swiftly followed by an appearance on a reality TV show. Americans Tareq and Michaele Salahi appear to have taken a more direct route to fame, however, by allegedly gatecrashing President Obama's first White House dinner on Tuesday night. The US Secret Service is investigating how the couple, who its spokesman, Ed Donovan, confirmed were not on the guest list, managed to breach security and attend the 300-strong event. Donovan said an initial finding indicated that a checkpoint did not follow proper procedures to ensure the two were on the list. The Salahis, who were described by the Washington Post as "polo-playing socialites," are also reportedly auditioning for roles in the TV programme The Real Housewives of Washington". Micha
Crashing a state dinner at the White House apparently takes a security breakdown as well as some kind of nerve. The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said. President Obama was never in any danger because the party crashers went through the same security screening for weapons as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ... Email
Secret Service investigates its own security procedures after a Virginia couple crash state dinner.
The party crashers went through the same security screening as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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