2016 Films: #23. Anthropoid

This was an iTunes rental for my trip to Pomona (LAX) on November 11th. After browsing around and looking for a title, I came across this picture. It stars Cillian Murphy and it's a WWII thriller, so I pulled the trigger. The film was written and

The film takes place in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation of WWII. Czech exiles (Murphy and Jamie Dornan) are parachuted into their occupied homeland with the task of assassinating Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Nazi occupation forces in Czechoslovakia (not a nice man for sure, click on the link if you think I'm lying). After a few missteps they make their way to Prague and link up the the resistance movement. The exiles try to mingle while carrying out surveillance and planning the mission. Some of the problems they run into are falling in love and the hesitancy of the resistance leadership about completing the mission for fear of Nazi reprisals.

Eventually the order is confirmed and the mission is a go. The mission doesn't go as planned and it quickly turns into a sh*t show. They manage to wound Heydrich (he succumbs to his wounds shortly after) and flee but the Nazi's are none to happy with the attempt and brutally crack down on the citizenry. After some murder ad torture, the Nazis find out where the exiles are hiding, hunt them down and trap them in the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The exiles put up a valiant effort but it's only a matter of time.

This isn't the first film about the very real Operation Anthropoid but it is the first English speaking film. American audiences don't always get to see a film like this because it doesn't involve American soldiers fighting a large WWII battle or the subject matter isn't a pet project of a well-known directer but that doesn't make the film any less important from a historical context. Solid performances by a good cast. Writer/director Sean Ellis does a fine job with the pacing and the tension. The film received a lukewarm 65% Rotten Tomatoes rating but I think it might be a little better than that. There wasn't much I didn't like about this picture. I don't know if this film has the lasting power of other WWII thrillers like Eye of the Needle or Army of Shadows but that shouldn't detract from the film's merits. It's a good film. Some people may like and some people may not. I enjoyed the film.