Atentát
Atentát (English title: The Assassination) is a 1964 black-and-white Czechoslovak war film directed by Jiří Sequens. The World War II story depicts events before and after the assassination of top German leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague (Operation Anthropoid). Czech historians have called the film the historically most accurate depiction of the events surrounding Operation Anthropoid.[1][2][3]
Atentát | |
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Directed by | Jiří Sequens |
Written by | Miloslav Fábera Kamil Pixa Jiří Sequens |
Starring | Radoslav Brzobohatý |
Music by | Miloš Vacek |
Cinematography | Rudolf Milič |
Edited by | Jan Chaloupek |
Distributed by | Ústřední půjčovna filmů |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | Czechoslovakia |
Language | Czech German |
Plot
On September 27, 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most feared top officials of the Nazi Party, an architect of the Holocaust and Hitler's possible successor, is appointed "Reichsprotektor" of Bohemia and Moravia. As a result of his brutality and oppression he is also called "The Butcher of Prague" or "The Blond Beast".
In UK, a squad of agents is selected, trained and parachuted into Czechoslovakia. The team operated in Prague and planned the attack for about six months. The mission, Operation Anthropoid, is executed in the capital on May 27, 1942 by means of an ambush; it almost fails when one of their Sten guns jams, but Heydrich is severely wounded by a grenade. Heydrich eventually succumbs to his wounds and during the frenzied aftermath the German high command takes savage reprisals, including the massacre of 340 men, women and children of the village of Lidice and the razing of the village. The group is eventually betrayed by one of its members and they are cornered in a church crypt in Prague. In the gun-battle that follows all agents commit suicide.
Trivia
The characters of agents don't use the historical real names but the historical cover names used for the operation (e.g. Jan Kubiš is named as Otto Strnad).
Cast
- Radoslav Brzobohatý – 1st Lt. Král (based on Adolf Opálka)
- Luděk Munzar – 1st Lt. Sedlák (based on Alfred Bartoš)
- Ladislav Mrkvička – Serg. Vyskocil (based on Jozef Gabčík)
- Rudolf Jelínek – Serg. Strnad (based on Jan Kubiš)
- Jiří Kodet – Serg. Tousek (based on Josef Valčík)
- Harry Studt - Wilhelm Canaris
- Josef Vinklář – Serg. Vrbas (based on Karel Čurda)
Awards
4th Moscow International Film Festival - Golden Prize.[4]
See also
- Related films
- Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
- Hitler's Madman (1943)
- The Silent Village (1943)
- Operation Daybreak (1975)
- Anthropoid (2016)
- The Man with the Iron Heart (2016)
References
- Rajlichová, Eva (27 May 2012). "Filmová zpracování atentátu na Heydricha obsahují řadu nepřesností". iROZHLAS.cz (in Czech). Český rozhlas. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- Košařová, Karolína (2016). ""Filmař často vidí věc jinak než poradce," říká historik Pavel Kmoch". filmová místa.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- Čech, Marek (30 September 2016). "Anthropoid: atentát na Heydricha jako akční film [recenze]". AVmania.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- "4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2012-12-06.