A new film revisits one of the most daring acts of defiance against Nazi rule during the second world war. Operation Anthropoid, as it was code-named, saw London-trained Czech commandos parachute into occupied Prague to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the district governor, a high-ranking SS officer and a key architect of the Holocaust. The mission succeeded in 1942, but the German reprisals were horrifyingly brutal, with entire villages destroyed and thousands of civilians killed.
Directed by Sean Ellis, who co-wrote the screenplay, the film is described as a taut and claustrophobic thriller. It focuses on the two operatives, Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, played with conviction by Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan. Murphy is said to be fiercely committed as Gabčík, while Dornan gives a more reticent turn as his co-conspirator.
The picture does not shy away from the gruelling aftermath of the assassination. According to the review, it keeps viewers on the edge of their seats during the operation itself, but then forces them to recoil during the vicious retribution that followed. The film is praised as an intelligent, tough and gripping piece of cinema, with superb performances at its core.
While French resistance efforts are often better remembered, the Czech operation stands out as one of the most spectacular acts of civilian resistance in the war. The new film seeks to bring that story to wider attention, dramatising both the courage of the attackers and the terrible cost exacted on the population.
