Posted on 01/23/2009 10:10:18 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Tom Cruise has become an overnight hero in Germany thanks to his film about the plot to kill Hitler — a story the German authorities fear could become a propaganda vehicle for Scientology.
The country’s critics, initially sniffy about Valkyrie, a portrayal of Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the army officer who tried to blow up the Führer, are now giving Cruise a thumbs up — or at least a verdict of “not bad for a foreigner”.
If the film becomes a hit — and early signs are that the public like it — some police and politicians are worried that it will give Scientology, of which Cruise is a leading member, a boost in Germany.
The German equivalent of the Special Branch, the Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), believes that Scientology is an antidemocratic organisation and is keeping it under close observation.
“These Scientologists have two goals in Germany,” said an official close to the BfV. “To get their message to children, and make their organisation respectable. The film does both: it has put a top Scientologist at the centre of a national debate about German history. That’s dangerous.”
Michael Brand, a Christian Democrat politician, has appealed to his fellow deputies to call for a boycott of Valkyrie in their constituencies. “Stauffenberg would have waged resistance against the likes of Tom Cruise,” said Mr Brand, saying that Scientology pursued totalitarian goals.
The BfV, which has a brief to monitor terrorism and extremist groups, says in its latest report: “Scientology shapes the political opinions of its members in a way that makes them hostile to the principles of the Constitution.”
The organisation recently opened a headquarters in Berlin as its main lobbying centre in Europe. Claudia Schmid, the head of the Berlin division
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
How hard would that be to counter? Just show some recent footage of some of his guest appearances on the TV talk shows. Problem solved.
Ah, so that’s where one goes to learn how to jump on couches and declare ones obsessions- the Church of scientology!
I live in Germany. The article is fairly unreal. First, barely half of the German public attend one movie a year...at best, and it won’t be something like this. Second...of the remaining folks...if a theater was really lucky...they might have thirty to forty folks sitting in the audience, which would be considered a successful night (by German standards). Third...a fair portion of the younger generation (15-21) wouldn’t spend a nickel on a movie which doesn’t have alot of action, and they wouldn’t dare be seen at some World War II movie.
I’m thinking this article is mostly bogus.
Good movie. Good acting.
A story worth getting to the German public, although many probably know about it.
From what I have been told about Germany all young people do is hang out at disco techs.
Tom Cruise should convert to Islam so the Germans won’t fear him.
i hold no brief for Scientology, since it was founded as a money making cult, and has crazy ideas about psychiatry, but if all they have against this film is that Tom Cruise is in it, this whole thing is pretty ridiculous.
I have heard good and bad about it. was it authentic to WW2 as far as weapons, uniforms and equipment goes? I do plan on seeing it soon.
yitbos
It was excellent, well done and well-acted.
It's been fascinating learning just how many times folks tried to kill Hitler, and either missed their chance, or failed in the attempt.
He was a lucky bastige, I must say!
True. I've seen the gist of the movie several times on the History Channel (or the 'Hitler Channel', to quote one FReeper). And if Germans don't know their own history by now, this movie won't make much difference.
Stauffenberg was an uncommonly courageous man.
Well, somebody in Germany is watching movies, as Germany is #2 internationally in box office , behind China.
Cheney Chic you tore up the threads that were dedicated to support the grieving and loss of Mr. Travoltas disabled son with your rants on the evil cult of Scientology.
Yet. as I have briefly read these type of threads actually dealing with the topic you have not over took or as far as I can read commented at all.
Here is your Big platform for such a venue.
Where are you?
He was given a long leash called the will of human freedom to choose.
His luck ran out and mankind gasped at his audacity.
Yet we repeat his killing fields and chambers under the Law of Roe vs Wade.
And not to exclude the other world wide genocides since then.
Lord Have Mercy.
I have a multiplex here in this German town I live in. On a Friday or Saturday night...if they can fill three of these with 100 people...they count it as a hugely successful operation....while the other four “rooms” barely have thirty people each. There are two periods a year where movies make big money...Christmas and Easter...traditionally the only periods when most folks might go to a movie.
Adding to this money draw...unless you attend a mid-afternoon movie, you are paying close to $11 now for a evening ticket (we haven’t even gotten to the pop-corn and Coke yet).
Last year, I went to the simple 1-room cinema in the village I live in...240 seats...styled like you’d expect in the 1960s but with 4-star sound...and there were 18 people there for a Friday night movie. The guy who runs the place...does this as his hobby and evening job. I doubt he makes more than $10k a year on profit after he pays the bills. He won’t play anything that teenagers would want to see, and its mostly artsy stuff or foreign movies. The German mentality on viewing movies is totally different.
As far as I could tell, yes. It featured a couple of flying-condition Ju-52 "Tante Ju" transports, the odd Me-109 or two, and a pair of U.S. P-40's, one of which, in their retelling, accounted for von Stauffenberg's missing eye and fingers. The P-40's had large airscoops like the later models with shark-mouth decoration, which may not have been correct for early 1943.
They looked to be fielding either well-recreated or original Mark III and Mark IV Panzers as well and the occasional medium-sized halftrack. Which would be period-correct, since Mark V's and Mark VI's didn't show up until later, when the Germans had been driven back into the hills of Tunisia; then a few Mark VI Tigers were delivered to von Thoma and the other commanders substituting for Rommel.
The other World War II movie on offer, Defiance, featured replica Mark V Panther tanks and what looked like a long-barreled Mark III J or later (with the longer 50-mm gun); but the muzzle brake on the Mark V was wrong -- it was a 50's-era Soviet compensator like those on T-54's and T-55's. Points off.
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