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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

O Superman

Harkening back to my article of July 10th, 2007 entitled "Foxes, Fires and the Art of War: or "Are foxes guarding the hen house?" many of you will surely be aware of the upcoming motion picture "Valkryie", which deals with the 1944 Plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. The film stars Tom Cruise (pictured left in costume) as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. The basic plot is as follows:

At the height of WW2, a group of high-ranking German officers hatched a plot to assasinate Adolf Hitler, and seize power of the military command in order to end the war. The operation was codenamed "Valkyrie", for the emergency plan that was meant to be used in case of a revolt against the Nazi government. This plan had been modified by the conspirators to ensure their success, but for various reasons the plot failed when finally carried out on 20 July 1944. The conspirators of the inner circle were shot after a kangaroo trial or sentenced to death soon after.

The filming has created a tremendous amount of controversy (which should translate well at the Box Office). Germans have been troubled by a film that glorifies Nazis, and Tom Cruise's belief in Scientology has equally been bothersome as Scientology is considered a Cult in Germany. On 8/18/2007 an accident took place on the set, and "11" (any of you numbers experts out there, I'd be curious to get your take on these numbers) extras were injuried.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/20/ap4035597.html




The director of "Valkryie" is Bryan Singer, who brought us "X-Men" & "X2", "Apt Pupil" (another film of Nazi content), he served as executive producer of the 2005 TV mini-series "The Triangle", he also brought us UberMench "Superman Returns" as well as the upcoming "Superman: Man of Steel" . I am certainly not suggesting that Singer (who is both Jewish and openly gay) is a Nazi but he certainly has a fascination with them, and many themes which the Nazis' themselves were interested. The following quote from his wikipedia page is interesting, and also supports my statement.

"In 1998, Singer directed Apt Pupil, from a screenplay written by Brandon Boyce, another of his friends. The story, adapted from a Stephen King novella of the same name (collected in the book Different Seasons), tells of a young boy who develops a morbid fascination with a Nazi war criminal. An experience from Singer's childhood, where he and his friends briefly formed a "Nazi Club", is often cited as attracting him to this project (Singer said this club was born not out of anti-Semitism but rather due to the kids' fascination with World War II)."




For more on Hollywood, Scientology, and actors/actresses check out this FAQ
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/faq-you/celeb.txt

There is also an interesting article at Sabrina's Journey that deals with Scientology entitled "You can check out any time you like..."

13 comments:

Michael said...

Fascinating. Brian Singer certainly seems to be in the center of the whirlwind. I've read that Scientologists consider themselves part of a rebellion against an evil galactic dictator (Xenu), so it's understandable that Tom Cruise would be attracted to this role.

hoi polloi said...

About the title "Apt Pupil" I thought of the "pupil" of the eye. Tsarion once said that this word for student came from that person's tutelage under the Eye of Ra. Cruise shipped his two older kids off to scientology camp recently, poor things.

David said...

Of course that assassination attempt was undertaken by a 'Bamberg Horseman' and someone who was initiated into some interesting orders.

realm said...

In the Highlander tv series season 5 Duncan Macleod is at the attempted assasination along side
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. This 'story' has been told so often; I question the reason to make another telling of the tale.
Maybe to improve Tom Cruises' image as a 'Goodguy'?
To remind us of 'Fascists'?
Or just to make more of that crap called money?

We shall see, however I have a hard time stomaching any Tom Cruise flick, I recently tried to watch 'Eyes wide shut' damn was that a shitty film, I had to shut it off.
Peace, Joshua

FilmNoir23 said...

I would be curious to see that Episode of Highlander, I never got into the TV series.

Regardless of the implication of Stauffenberg attempting to off Hitler, does that make him a good guy? He was still a Nazi, and I would imagine wanted the agenda to go forward, just not with Hitler running the show.

I personally really like "Eyes Wide Shut" a ton....and "Minority Report" although I can't stand Cruise...his smugness, and inner dorkiness just eats away at me. He's like so many guys I went to school with somehow...

aferrismoon said...

There were a lot of these internal Nazi things . apparently Heidrich wasn't killed by Czech RAF but by certain magickal types who felt that the appropriation of Prague was ok, but not in Heidrichs hand. Trying to find more on this story.
Prague remained almost intact through the war. Please compare 'every' other city in Europe, except Paris, which the French presented gift-wrapped.
Magickal cities.
I,m pretty sure the Lost submnarine docks in Prague

David said...

I am not a nice man because in my book, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi.

FilmNoir23 said...

I guess we read from the same book David...

David said...

A favourite M&W sketch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4GmkJRPV7M

I'm glad we have read the same book. One day I hope to add to that particular branch of literature by managing to publish a book with details of what my grandfather saw when he was one of the first into Gestapo HQ in the liberated Paris.

As Connor MacLeod would say: "Whatever you say, Jack. You are the master race."

FilmNoir23 said...

David, I'm going to laughing about that clip for years to come. Thanks a million for sharing it. I would never have come across it otherwise.

I know I for one would love to discover what your grandfather found in Paris...I can can only imagine.

aferrismoon said...

Why do we refer to National Socialists as Fascists when perhaps they're really socialists with a national bent which is like communism - socialism with an international tendency
now the uber-nations seem to employ both, one for the containment of their slaves, the other for assimilating them into globalites.
This fear of the world-join the world double maessage creates a form of schizophrenia, so we imprison our 'own' people while allowing others [ the fabulously rich of other nations' to do what they like.
Corporations hiring and firing a 'town' then schlepping off to a cheaper country.
Employers employs cheap foreigners ' Market Forces , Amen' , the expensive homeboys then' hate' the incomers.
The news " Economy great- country full of thieving foreigners"

FilmNoir23 said...

I understand what you are saying aferrismoon...my problem is that these semantic arguments over "isms" is placed there to squabble over. I leave that to academics personally.

However you wish to view National Socialism is fine by me...a racially oriented Government system is bad no matter how you slice it.

David said...

I've always worked from the Stanley G. Payne definition of fascism. It's flawed, but better than most. As for National Socialiast ... that largely defines the Libyan system ... I agree that semantics is not a good tool here (a fist is always better when dealing with racist, authoritarian scum). If you cannot spot a fascist/Nazi regardless of the name being used, you have a major problem.