Anthropoid

I consider The Assassination from Jiří Sequens to be one of the best domestic films ever, and perhaps that is why I was slightly afraid of Anthropoid. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about. Despite the accents (you can get used to them, but I hope that the best possible dubbing will be created), the film has everything it should have: A comprehensible and more or less untwisted story seen exclusively through the eyes of Gabčík and Kubiš, the great period atmosphere that Renč's Lída Baarová, for example, can only dream of, and, fortunately, also a huge narrative value for the familiar Czech and for the unsuspecting foreign viewer. I can't imagine how crushing the second half must be for someone who knows nothing about Anthropoid. The strain is palpable in the end, the shootout in the church absolutely riveting and the flooding of the crypt so hopeless... It brings tears to your eyes, and thanks to Sean Ellis, nothing that happens feels the slightest bit ridiculous. It's also more than pleasant that the Czech actors are definitely not lost next to the British aces, even Anna Geislerová was a good fit for Prague 1941/1942, and I have to say that she looked very good in the period, and I recommend Robin Foster's interestingly modern soundtrack for independent listening. (10/01/2016)

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. (01/19/2017)

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. (10/05/2016)

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. (12/17/2016)

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. (04/08/2020)