Most people are familiar with the failed attempt of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg to assassinate Adolf Hitler in WWII.  What many people don't know, are all the stories of the people behind the scenes, the large conspiracy to take over the government, and all the lives affect by this group of German patriots, and their respective fates as a result of the conspiracy.

It is obvious to anyone who has studied WWII and all the blunders made by the hideous, murdering corporal of WWI, Adolf Hitler, as a commander in chief, that  by time he is in North Africa in 1941 and has opened up two fronts including one with Russia his fate and demise was sealed. People with any military prowess know it is a lost cause and are seeking to privately overthrow the Fuhrer and negotiate for peace.  It was only a matter of time and sadly millions of lives later that the war concludes.  We have to stop and think for  moment if Col. Claus von Stauffenberg was successful, or any of the other failed attempts were successful how many lives of the Allies, Germans, Russians and Jews on all these fronts  would have been saved. 

This drama and the personal lives is what Director Bryan Singer and Producer and main star Tom Cruise try and bring to life.  With a supporting cast of many fine stars like,
Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Eddie Izzard , Terence Stamp and Kenneth Branagh to name a few. 

There is great drama and suspense but the movie stills seems to lack something or at least I felt like I missed something. Maybe it was as simple as already knowing the outcome?  For sure I have to ask a lot of questions of the failed bombing.  For instance why did von Stauffenberg not leave the extra bomb in the briefcase even if he couldn't arm it, when the first one went off it would have blown the second charge and they would have been enough to kill everyone in the room.  So many little things went wrong, and almost anyone of which would have produced a better outcome for the conspirators.   Today these people are all hailed as martyrs and hero's of Germany. 
 As mentioned in the movie, " it is easy to blow up a room with a bomb, the trick is not to be there when it happens".  Today that bombing would be carried out by a suicide bomber and nothing would be left to chance. Even that question today has to be asked, with an almost certain probability of failure, why was it not a suicide mission?  The answer is easy when you look at the people involved.  Von Stauffenberg wanted to come home to his wife Nina and children, to live a normal life. 

Is there an a lesson here as we look to other epic struggles in the Middle East ?

interesting story solid performances.