Sean Ellis
Anthropoid

THE REVIEW

If the word "spoiler" irritates you because you associate it with films that live and die by the final plot twist, then Anthropoid might be the breath of fresh air you've been looking for. No cheap tricks, no unlikely narrative turns: just a dry and devastating narrative, like the backdrop against which the protagonists move.

Set in Nazi-occupied Prague during World War II, the film fits into the genre of historical dramas such as Valkyrie, centered on desperate plans to end the Nazi terror. Here the target is one of the Reich's most monstrous executioners, Reinhard Heydrich, nicknamed "the Butcher of Prague". To eliminate him, at the end of 1941, the Czech government in exile, with the support of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), launches Operation Anthropoid: two young soldiers, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, are parachuted into Prague to carry out the mission.

Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan masterfully portray the two protagonists, endowed with a charisma that contrasts with the brutality of the world surrounding them. Jan, the more vulnerable, is tormented by the lack of an escape plan after the attack. Jozef, more pragmatic and disillusioned, seems to accept from the beginning that their fate is sealed. He observes almost with compassion as his comrade falls in love with a young woman from the resistance, even going so far as to ask her to marry him.

Months of clandestine operations pass in nerve-wracking anticipation before the order to proceed arrives, and, as often happens, the attack does not go as planned, paving the way for a spiral of reprisals as inevitable as they are inhumane.

The Nazis, rightly, are never put at the center of the scene; they do not deserve to be known closely: they remain an indistinct mass of ferocious barbarians, whose only purpose is to sow terror.

The narration is sober, almost austere, making the rare but inevitable scenes of brutal violence even more shocking. The soundtrack, minimal and discreet, is reduced to a dark background during the final siege in a church in Prague, in an almost unbearable tragic crescendo. Slow motion is used sparingly and emphasizes the panic and claustrophobia, up to the inevitable epilogue, moving and cathartic.

The closing credits, which report the terrifying number of reprisal victims, omit an important detail, the only crumb of justice in this very dark tale: the traitor of the resistance cell, who sold information for a million marks, did not live happily ever after. He was found, tried, and executed in 1947.

Anthropoid is a film that strikes for its sincerity, for the delicacy with which it depicts human frailties, and for its ability to convey the sense of historical tragedy without indulging in easy dramatization.