The true story of the Czech soldiers who carried out a mission to
​assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler's third in command.

BIOPIC/DRAMA/WAR

Anthropoid (2016)

Directed by Sean Ellis

Written by Sean Ellis and Anthony Frewin

Starring Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Charlotte Le Bon,
Toby Jones, Bill Milner, Anna Geislerová, Harry Lloyd,
Jiri Samek, Marcin Dorocinski, Alena Mihulová

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Connor Eyzaguirre

March 13, 2017

7/10

There's so much about World War II that we don't know, or were never taught. I know I'd never heard of Operation Anthropoid before watching this film. Year after year, more secret missions or untold stories are revealed to the public and translated to film through dedicated filmmakers. The films that are made from these former closely guarded secrets revolutionize the way we think about the war. Anthropoid is a film that tells the story of an assassination plot headed by the Czechoslovakian government. The target? SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the so-called Final Solution and third in line to succeed Adolf Hitler. Films like this consistently remind the modern world that the Nazis were more than just bad guys. They were monsters.

Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan play the two Czech soldiers charged with carrying out the impossible task. They both delivered great performances that stand out in an impressive cast of unfamiliar actors that I'm certain I will see again. Not knowing the details of Operation Anthropoid, I went in not knowing what to expect. Did they pull it off? Did they get out alive? When the film ended, I was floored by the heroism of these brave soldiers who I had never heard of until now. That being said, the film does suffer from a tendency to drag. It wants to tell the story, but it's difficult to keep the viewer's interest consistently

Anthropoid is a decent WWII biopic that does justice to a group of soldiers who were instrumental in bringing down one of the Nazi regime's most vicious leaders. While the film is a tad uneven, the climax and character development make up for it. Overall, I'd call it a good film but not a great one.