Valkyrie

I am a sucker for a good World War II movie. There are so many I have loved for many years: Where Eagles Dare, 12 o'clock High, Kelly's Heroes--I could go on. This past week we watched The Battle of the Bulge and The Longest Day on Blu-Ray. It was awesome. I think I have a new favorite, though.

We saw Valkyrie on New Years Day. I was a little leary, knowing that the attempted assasination of Hitler portrayed in the movie was unsuccessful. I wondered, "How can they possibly make a movie interesting when you know how it ends?" Still, I loved the story of the heroic men who knew that Hitler had gone too far and they were willing to die to save Germany from Hitler, so I knew I had to see this movie.

From the opening minute of the movie, I was on the edge of my seat. It was amazing. The acting was great, the directing was perfect. The story was so suspenseful, even until the last minute. I loved it.

It made me think about some things. When did the German people realize that Hitler had gone too far? Did this July assassination attempt, although unsuccessful, give courage to other Germans and residents of other occupied nations to join the resistance? How difficult was it for this group of men to do what they knew was right in the face of pure evil, knowing that they would likely pay for it with their lives? Would I have the same courage?

Most of all, it made me even more proud of Grandpa B. who came onto Omaha Beach in an M-18 and did many heroic things to help our country defeat such an evil man. Gramps has pictures that make me cry every time I see them of his tank squadron coming upon the survivors of Buchenwald just after the nazis has abandoned it. Mostly, I love his pictures of him sailing into New York harbor on the way home with all his buddies and the Statue of Liberty in the background.