By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Hitler was amused. The plan was ingenious and had his whole-hearted approval. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was back from Africa after receiving severe wounds in an Allies attack in Tunisia. He had lost his left eye, his right hand and two fingers on his left hand, but Claus was not finished yet. Together with Major General Hennig von Tresckow, he helped conceive the idea of implementing a shadow government to manage turmoil in case of the Nazi Fuhrer's death. Hitler particularly liked the name of the scheme "Operation Valkyrie." It conjured those magical sounds of his favourite opera Die Valkure by his cherished composer Richard Wagner. The Valkyries are warlike goddess maidens of Norse mythology. Armed with spears and helmets, they rode swift horses to do Odin's bidding. The God Odin, supreme Ruler of the world, dispatched the Valkyries to the battlefields to choose dead heroes and take them to Valhalla and serve them feasts. Their name means: "those who choose the fallen," but whatever symbolism, the name attached to that plan remains a mystery. Stauffenberg, A German aristocrat, patriot and war hero, soon became disillusioned and disappointed with the war debacle. He eventually joined the German Resistance and became part of the "July 20 plot," to assassinate Hitler and implement Valkyrie in order to take control of the country and make peace with the Allies. Stauffenberg was assigned the task of leading the coup and assassinate Hitler. We all know he failed; Hitler survived this and several other assassination attempts. Staffenberg was executed. It is one of the few tales of WWII that have yet to be told on the screen. The lingering mystique of WWII remains baffling. No other war has triggered so much interest and aroused so much sentiment, generation after generation, for both readers and viewers who never seem to get enough of it. Historians and filmmakers are only too happy to oblige. There is no doubt that WWII changed the world entirely. It marked the rise of the United States, the fall of many Empires, and provided legendary heroes, spies, weapons, and horrendous tales of human suffering. It changed the map of Europe, created the State of Israel, established the United Nations, and instigated the Cold War. Moreover it has kept filmmakers in Germany, France, Britain, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Holland, and every other European country, as well as the US, Canada and Japan, busy reproducing slices of their WWII experiences. The most recent offering comes from the US. Valkyrie has the added appeal of returning Tom Cruise to the screen in the role of Claus von Stauffenberg aided by Kenneth Branagh as Major General von Tresckow, the architect of the plot. A distinguished British and German cast was assembled under the direction of one of Hollywood's most provocative and exciting wunderkind, Bryan Singer. After The Usual Suspects (1995), Singer built a reputation of making films that dextrously explore the darker side of human nature. Singer's interest in the project is in itself an intriguing, even riveting account. Born in Jew Jersey in 1966 in a Jewish household, Singer began exploring filmmaking in his early teens. Strangely enough he joined two non-Jewish friends in the formation of a so-called "Nazi Club." It was instigated more out of fascination with WWII, than as a slight to his own heritage. His mother soon put an end to his Nazi-Club activities, but the young filmmaker's obsession with WWII never left him. Following three episodes of X- MEN blockbusters and Superman Returns, Singer now brings to the screen Valkyrie, an original war thriller starring the number one box-office king himself. The Germans however objected to Cruise's casting. German politicians and members of the Stauffenberg family disapproved of the actor's practice of Scientology. The German media however, gave support to the film that would spread the global awareness of von Stauffenberg's attempted plot. The producers initially had difficulty in setting up film locations, such as Berlin's historical Benderblock, a memorialized location where Stauffenberg and comrades were executed. The explanation given by Germany's Finance Minister was that the site should be preserved as a place of "remembrance and mourning" and would therefore lose its dignity if exploited as a film set. The German government eventually had a change of heart concerning the Banderblock site. It is somewhat reminiscent of Barack Obama's appearance by the Brandenburg Gate; first they objected, then they approved, or at least compromised. In fact the Germans bent backwards to accommodate Singer and Cruise. The German Federal Film Fund issued 3.8 million euro to assist with production. They allowed the crew access to Tempelhoff International Airport's Columbia Haus, a former Nazi jail for political prisoners. Nazi symbols, the display of which is illegal, were allowed to be used at several locations and WWII planes with swastikas painted on the sides flew in the airspace above Brandenburg. Cruise led the cast and crew in a moment of silence out of respect for the place, and out of respect for the life achievement of these people who were executed at Benderblock. He was in turn presented by a Bambi Courage Award by the German Media Company Hubert Burd Media, for tackling a story that had never been covered by Hollywood before." The Staffenberg family is also delighted with the casting of Cruise, After their initial objection, von Staffenberg's grandson Phillip von Schultless wrote: "After I met Tom and saw how he was approaching the role with such professionalism, I think most of the family are interested in seeing the finished film." Scheduled for a Christmas release, tales of WWII remain relevant and riveting, with lessons to teach, and enough suspense and intrigue to keep feeding our insatiable curiosity, not only of victory and defeat, of war and peace, but of mankind under stress. Perhaps another reason why WWII is still so fascinating is because it may indeed be the last World War our civilization will ever know. WWIII will be its total destruction War should belong to the tragic past, to history, it should find no place on humanity's agenda for the future. -- Pope John Paul II (Karol Woityla) (1920 - 2005)
