Directed by:
Sean EllisCinematography:
Sean EllisCast:
Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Charlotte Le Bon, Aňa Geislerová, Toby Jones, Harry Lloyd, Alena Mihulová, Sam Keeley, Jan Budař, Ondřej Malý, Mish Boyko (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Based on the true story of two Czechoslovak soldiers sent to assassinate the head of the SS in 1941. SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich was the Reich's number three and main architect for the 'Final Solution'. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (15)
The assassination of Heydrich is undoubtedly a very strong theme, which this time was taken up by several countries, which had both advantages and disadvantages. For me personally, the biggest stumbling block was the unconvincing and dull performance of the actors in the first two thirds of the film, which was to some extent also caused by the fact that none of the actors used their mother tongue. I would honestly put the romantic line aside completely, because I found it mostly redundant. Nevertheless, the film picks up from the interrogations and the final church siege was very well shot and staged. Pity about the lacklustre and uninteresting (two-thirds of the way through) start.
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Of course we would prefer if it was made by Spielberg or Polanski with their elegant optics and artistic touch. Anthropoid has nothing like that. But let’s be glad Sean Ellis made it into at least a decent action thriller. The actors are fine given that the screenplay doesn’t give them much to work with and the period atmosphere is captured well. Ellis also gives it the necessary momentum, like a mechanical but skillful cameraman who knows how to achieve both dynamics and fluidity. The climax in the cathedral is satisfactorily long and precisely escalated. And the main thing: when watching Anthropoid, I was proud for a moment that I come from Czechoslovakia.
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Ellis had been thinking for so long about how he was actually going to conceive the film when suddenly filming started here. The result is a jagged mutant that straddles the line between a classic wartime love in the times of Nazi cholera and a stripped-down historical reenactment with occasional glimpses of Hollywood narrative crutches (the recurring motifs of putting a bullet in the chamber, Shakespeare, Geislerová under the hose). The result is a dull grey where you don't give a damn. The romantic storyline is uninteresting because the characters are completely alien and impenetrable, and the relationship entanglements in turn detract from the reenactment. There are strengths in the sub-elements that Ellis can dabble in, especially in the second half, and that's why the assassination itself and the action climax in the church manage to hook you appropriately with their relentlessness, intensity, and confused subjective camerawork. This raises the question, then, of where the scenes came from where we have a close-up of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the hands of one character reading perhaps the most famous line from the play to another, whereupon he dramatically slams the volume shut and says "That was Shakespeare." The only thing that thus ties the whole thing together is the fecal brownish filter with which it is smeared. And by the way, the ones who once again lose the whole Operation Anthropoid thing here are the Germans, who again fill their roles from dozens of computer shooter games, where their role is either to yell German and bully civilians in the street, or to yell German and climb into the heroes' wounds. That's how you conquer two-thirds of Europe, it takes real savvy.
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I'm very much looking forward to the dubbed version, which is probably a first. But otherwise, I have to admit that Anthropoid is a tasteful perspective from the outside and a good counterpart to The Assassination. The Czechs have small roles and, led by Aňa, they add to the atmosphere and the final shootout will make you hold your breath and keep your eyes wide open.
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No other foreign film has pleased me so much as a Czech patriot. The first half is more or less mandatory, in order to introduce the main characters and their resistance and love personalities, but the second half, from the beginning of the assassination to the final shot, swept me away thanks to the brilliant dramatic timing, the beautiful raw action and the flawlessly orchestrated emotions. And I experienced the glorious church battle with the characters, even though the outcome was inevitable. The moment Cillian Murphy, by now a truly deserving member of my acting top 20, shouted "We are Czechs!", all my hair stood on end, including the ones I’ve already lost, and in a rush of euphoria I had an irrepressible urge to confirm his patriotic cry with several pints of proud Czech beer. While it’s disappointing that there’s little space for the villains (this is a film about Nazis with by far the fewest swastikas on the screen), I’m impressed by the very honest and emotional treatment of the courageous victims, and pleased by the performance of not only Murphy but also the convincing Dornan. Only that instead of Geislerová the creators could have used the burgeoning sex appeal of Vika Kerekes, Anya is getting on in years and the make-up artists didn't exactly help her much.
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