Of all the skirmishes in human history, World War II has inspired the most movies—the greatest movies—and by all indicators, the trend shows no signs of ever letting up.
Target: Reinhard Heydrich
Involving no American characters, “Anthropoid” is a bookend of sorts to “Valkyrie,” the Tom Cruise vehicle from 2008 wherein German officers attempt to take out Adolf Hitler. The target for assassination in “Anthropoid” is Reinhard Heydrich (Detlef Bothe), Hitler’s third in command and the architect of the “Final Solution” plan for Jewish genocide. Mr. Bothe’s spot-on resemblance to Heydrich is beyond eerie and unnerving.
Code-named “Operation Anthropoid,” this was a mission executed by British-trained Czech soldiers, rightfully upset that other European nations essentially turned their backs, looked the other way, and allowed Germany to annex the Czech’s country without the firing of a single shot. It was one of the major political, tactical, and military blunders of the entire war.
Victory, Then What?
What happens if they actually succeed? The almost certain reprisals will result in untold needless civilian casualties and will make an incredibly bad situation even worse. All you need to do is look at what happened in 21st-century Iraq and Libya when their oppressive dictatorial leaders (with previous U.S. backing, by the way) were assassinated. We’re still dealing with the messy aftermath of those events.
Director Sean Ellis and his two screenwriters get a great deal right, but as is too often the case with committee-penned scripts, the narrative is pushed and pulled in multiple directions. The tense opening and brutal closing acts sandwich a middle that frequently meanders and treads water.
Sacred National Soil
What isn’t so believable is the protracted exchange of gunfire taking place at the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Orthodox church that served as a hideout after the attack on Heydrich and today is rightfully considered sacred national soil. Again, the filmmakers take what was likely too much artistic liberty with the laws of physics and probability, but this does little to diminish the overall impact.“Operation Daybreak” (1975) covered exactly the same events as those played out in “Anthropoid,” but the approach, style, pacing, and photography are worlds apart. Both are good, neither is great, and each steadfastly avoids softening any edges.
Less successful versions include “Hangmen Also Die!” (1943), “Hitler’s Madman” (1943), “The Assassination“ (”Atentát”) (1964), “Sokolovo” (1975), and “The Butcher of Prague“ (”Ladice”) (2011).
Released after “Anthropoid” in 2017 was a movie based on the oddly titled 2010 Laurent Binet book “HHhH.” It starred Jason Clarke as Heydrich, and was issued with three different titles: “HHhH,” “Killing Heydrich,” and “The Man With the Iron Heart.” As with “Anthropoid,” the running time is exactly two hours.
Usually I’m partial to the “less is more” approach to storytelling, but the details surrounding Heydrich and his assassination are worthy of further exploration. A three- or four-part cable miniseries would do the trick.
