Tuesday 15 January 2013

Valkyrie
(2008)

RATING:60%
FORMAT:DVD



Fascinating what-if of history that is more than just another Tom CRUISE vanity project but which does not dramatically explore the very issues it explicitly raises. This leaves it in the no-man’s-land between great art and entertainment.

The suspenseful plotting is compelling but the character motivations are weak. The themes of loyalty treason and honour are never fully-explored in this surprisingly historically -accurate movie; making it something of a pageant of world-class acting talent who never get fully under the skin of their characters to help the audience to truly understand why the German Resistance was so spectacularly unsuccessful compared to say the Italian - who assassinated Mussolini at the first try.

There is still yet a good movie to be made about the German Resistance during World War 2 and this is a half-decent stab at that goal.


Copyright © 2013 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 17:31
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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)