This is one of the best documentaries about the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and the attempted coup d'état by the German military resistance on July 20, 1944. What makes this particular one so outstanding are the dozens of interviews with contemporary witnesses, people who had been more or less, actively and passively, involved with and participating in the military resistance and the events surrounding the 20th July, the most prominent voices probably being Albert Speer, back then German minister of armaments and war production, and (infamously) Otto Ernst Remer, who was ordered by Hitler himself to quash the coup in Berlin.
The two-part semi-docudrama is moderated by well renowned and respected German historian Joachim Fest, who previously had directed a portrait about Speer ("Der Architekt") and who would later write the excellent documentary "Hitler - Eine Karriere", as well as his most famous work "Der Untergang" about the last days of the Third Reich.
The style of "Operation Walküre" is a meticulous and almost academic approach, shifting between narration parts, interview segments and re-enactments of important scenes and events, nearly all of them on historical locations. Combining all these elements, this film provides a sobering experience without unnecessary dramatization or fictionalization, explaining in detail and chronological order what led to this fateful day in German history and what happened afterwards. Especially the numerous witness accounts lend the film a great deal of credibility and authenticity, a feat that I personally also value very much in the brilliant British TV-series "World at War". It's a huge difference if you still have firsthand testimonies from living witnesses available roughly 25 years after the end of the war or if it's up to a couple of professional experts to replicate their thoughts and opinions more than half a century later, when none of them are alive anymore.
While this documentary is now 50 years old and certainly lacks the latest findings in historical research, it doesn't fail in delivering a concise analysis of the events of July 20, 1944. In that regard, one of the most interesting details in my opinion is the interpretation of the role of Erwin Rommel within the military resistance - a debate that is continuing to this day.
If you don't want to rely on the manifold fictionalized versions (Hollywood or not) or History-Channel-like over-sensationalism, then I absolutely recommend to watch "Operation Walküre". It might be a bit difficult to obtain such an old film (there is a German 2-DVD-set available), but I still consider it to be superior to almost all later documentaries about this topic.
