| on 24-09-2007 04:24
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Published in : , Film |
 By Calvin Keogh
There’ll be no jumping the couch for Tom Cruise this summer. The hapless star came to Berlin to scout locations for his latest movie project, ‘Valkyrie’, a dramatization of Germany’s most famous wartime conspiracy, only to be officially banned from shooting at federal government locations.
The actor bears a striking resemblance to plot ringleader Claus von Stauffenberg, who in 1944 carried a briefcase bomb into Hitler’s ‘Wolf’s Lair’ bunker. Although several officers were wounded or killed, the Führer escaped with only a burst eardrum and entertained Mussolini later that day.
With few in a position to confront the Nazi regime, the conspirators were honored as martyrs following the war and attempts to relate their story are understandably sensitive. “It’s bound to be rubbish”, was the reaction of Stauffenberg’s 72-year-old son, “he should keep his hands off my father”.
The Hollywood connection seems less of an issue, however, than Cruise’s beliefs. While Stauffenberg Junior finds it merely “unpleasant” that a Scientologist is involved, the German Defence Ministry justifies its ban on the grounds that Cruise “publicly professed to being a member of the Scientological cult”.
“Personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie’s content”, argues co-producer Paula Wagner. For the German government, however, Scientology is “directed against the free democratic order” and the irony of its most famous propagandist playing a national hero is clearly not appreciated.
Shooting in Berlin began July 19th but visitors to the Bendler Block and its German Resistance Memorial Center are unlikely to be bothered by film crews. Here, where the plot was hatched, is a permanent exhibition plus a courtyard memorial where Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were executed.
Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand / www.gdw-berlin.de / Bendlerblock, Stauffenbergstr. 18 (Mon-Wed/Fri, 9am-6pm; Thu, 9am-8pm; Sat/Sun, 10am-6pm; free entry).
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