Film Review: Anthropoid

Many films have fictionalised and glorified assassination attempts during World War II, but Sean Ellis’ slow-burning Anthropoid takes a different approach. In his thoroughly researched story about a 1941 Czechoslovakian resistance plot to assassinate Hitler’s right-hand man, S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich, Ellis doesn’t invent bravado-filled heroes. He instead portrays ordinary ex-pat soldiers, filled with fear and doubt, struggling to undertake a mission that they are unlikely to survive.

Eschewing the usual shouting dramatics of Hollywood espionage and intrigue, this British-Czech production is instead a restrained affair, filled with long periods of nervous waiting and improvised plans. (Ellis’ camera work attempts to convey this by alternating Downtown-stiffness with Blair Witch-histrionics, but merely induces seasickness.) In keeping with the intimate, character-centric realism of his vision, Ellis chooses to keep a lot of the horrors of war offscreen, and focuses instead on his two aspiring assassins, Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik (Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy, complete with generic Slavic accents).

Murphy’s steely resolve juxtaposes nicely with Dornan’s wide-eyed naiveté. Trembling too much to fire a gun and quickly falling for the beautiful Marie (Charlotte Le Bon), Kubis’ tenderness and fraying nerves can seem unbelievable and frustrating for a soldier. But for an audience who knows the mission is ultimately doomed, his doubt proves empathic. When confronted with the choice between love and a probable suicide mission, who wouldn’t falter? It’s the unlikelihood of success that makes the men’s bravery count.

Anthropoid begins slightly sluggishly, taking too long to spring into action. But its refusal to adhere to a tried-and-tested formula ultimately proves winning. When the assassination attempt and ensuing manhunt finally occur, it’s terrifying and chaotic – a triumph of cinematic vision and the will of ordinary men, if nothing else.