Life in a 1970s British school was tough for German boy - Gottfried von Stauffenberg, and became tougher still after the screening of 'The Battle of Britain' on TV, as the other schoolboys imitate the scene of a Spitfire pilot shooting out the eye of the German pilot. Nine-year-old Gottfried had the perfect retort for the schoolboys' taunts. He may have been German, his father may have been in the German Army, However, his grandfather, a Wehrmacht officer, was the only one who came closer than any man to killing Hitler.

We are talking about the release of Tom Cruise's latest film 'Valkyrie' in UK , in which he plays the role of Claus von Stauffenberg, Gottfried's grandfather. On 20th July 1944, in a plot to kill the Führer, Stauffenberg after a meeting with Hitler, left behind a briefcase containing a bomb in the meeting room. If, it had not been for an oak table that came between the bomb and Hitler, not only would the war have ended, but millions of lives could have been saved.

Immediately after the war, all those who resisted it were deemed traitors by most Germans. However, according to Gottfried, 44, Germans who want to be take pride in their history, have canonized the name Stauffenberg, with many books written and documentaries filmed to celebrating the anniversary of the plot to kill Hitler.

In an interview with Gottfried, who works for an asset-management company in London , he was assiduous in mentioning the names of all the other plotters, who risked just as much, even though they did not have the access to place the bomb. According to him: 'It was just a quirk of history. No one else had regular meetings with Hitler. Nations need heroes; they had to pick one and they picked him.'

With more than a dozen great-grandchildren comprising the Stauffenberg clan, including Gottfried's four-year-old son Leopold, some members have objected to the way their patriarch has been represented. When Berthold von Stauffenberg, Gottfried's father heard about Cruise's role in the movie, he said: 'It is unpleasant for me that an avowed Scientologist will be playing my father.' The verdict of Franz, Berthold's brother tended to be more abrupt: 'Too stiff, too short and too dull.' While, Gottfried was more generous about Cruise. 'They made changes to the history. But is that important? I don't think so. They wanted to show the motives of the group and the man. My original concern was that it would be kitsch. But, it is not kitsch.' Pausing, he adds: 'I'm very glad that there's no sex scene with my grandmother.'

His grandmother finished the war in a concentration camp, giving birth to a child, conceived before the execution of her husband. Her other children, four in number were to a home and given a new name, reverting to Stauffenberg when the war ended. An old respected Roman Catholic family and described as aristocratic, with five or six castles (they inherited one recently, which is not traditional Stauffenberg), though Gottfried is keen to deny his aristocratic background, he grew up with a great awareness of his family history.

In 1974, nine year old Gottfried moved to Camberley, Surrey , when his father was transferred as a liaison officer to the staff college. It was aged 11 that Gottfried became aware of his history, when he enrolled at a German boarding school, where he was nicknamed 'bomb-layer', asked questions like 'Where's your eyepatch?' 'Where's your briefcase?' When he left school to begin National Service, Helmut Kohl was in power and the first Chancellor, who did not serve in the war, represented a nation free from first hand war guilt. As the anniversary of the bomb plot approached in 1984, Germany wanting to reclaim its heroes, wanted two soldiers in Berlin to represent the Army and lay a wreath, ordered Gottfried to Berlin .

We may not know the true motives behind the bomb plot, however, there is truth in the words of Henning von Tresckow, an accomplice of Stauffenberg and who Gottfried quotes: 'What matters now is no longer the practical purpose of the coup, but to prove to the world and for the records of history that the men of the resistance dared to take the decisive step.' Indeed, Stauffenberg and his colleagues showed that there were 'good Germans'. And so, 'Valkyrie' opens with a spring in its step in selected territories, generating plenty of interest in Germany and topping the charts, saw some initial protests against Cruise playing Claus von Stauffenberg due the actor's ties to Scientology, and barely beat 'Twilight', which continues to draw large young crowds. Oscar hopeful and UK red-hot 'Slumdog Millionaire' rose again, holding the top spot comfortably, continuing to sizzle at the European box office. 'Underworld: Rise of the Lycans' was the next best opener, while another Oscar hopeful 'Milk' got off to a decent start, though 'Frost/Nixon' opened bigger.

'My Bloody Valentine' has been performing exceptionally well in 3-D showings, while 'The Wrestler' fell 53% in its second round. Disney's 'Bolt' opened in third place, followed by '502', with Clint Eastwood's 'Changeling' at No. 9.