''Lidice'' (also known as ''Fall of the Innocent'' in the UK) is a 2011

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

drama film produced by Adam Dvořák from a screenplay by Zdenek Mahler. It was initially directed by

Alice Nellis Alice Nellis (born 3 January 1971 in České Budějovice) is a Czech Filmmaking, filmmaker. Nellis first worked as a Western concert flute, flautist before studying English literature and American literature. In 1996–2001 she studied Screenwri ...

, but after she contracted

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the ''Borrelia'' bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migran ...

(borreliosis), Petr Nikolaev took over. It tells a story involving the Nazi massacre at—and destruction of—the Czech village of

Lidice Lidice (, german: Liditz) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Lidice is built near the site of the previous village of the same name, which was co ...

. It was released in June 2011. The film is streaming on Amazon Prime under the title ''Fall of the Innocent'' (US, 15 April 2018). The budget of the film was around 65–70 million Kč (around

US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

4 million).

Plot

The film is presented as a true story set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. With the German takeover of Europe under way, the deputy ''

Reichsprotektor This is a list of rulers of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which from 15 March 1939 until 5 May 1945 comprised the German- occupied parts of Czechoslovakia. It includes both the representatives of the recognized Czech authorities as w ...

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...

arrives in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and his underlings begin enforcing his authority in the towns and villages across the

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

country. In

, the film's main protagonist, František Šíma, is sent to prison following a family dispute that boils over resulting in the accidental death of one of his sons. During Šíma's incarceration one of the other villagers, Václav Fiala, strings along his mistress with lies about his bravery as a

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

against the Germans. Heydrich is

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

and during the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

investigation that follows, a letter Fiala has written describing his supposed heroism comes to their attention. It leads to the total destruction of Lidice and the mass execution and deportations of its citizens. Throughout the atrocity, Šíma remains in jail, where news of what happened is kept from him. On his release, he returns to

, where he finds the village has been obliterated and finally learns of the tragic events.

Cast

Karel Roden Karel Roden (born 18 May 1962) is a Czech actor, popularly known for his roles in ''Hellboy'' and ''The Bourne Supremacy'', and his voice work in '' Grand Theft Auto IV''. Life and career Roden followed his father and grandfather into acting. ...

as František Šíma * Zuzana Fialová as Marie Vaňková *

Zuzana Bydžovská Zuzana Bydžovská (born 10 October 1961) is a Czech actress. She has performed in more than fifty films since 1973. Selected filmography Awards References External links *Zuzana Bydžovskáat ČSFD 1961 births Living people Cz ...

as Anežka Šímová * Marek Adamczyk as Václav Fiala *

Veronika Khek Kubařová Veronika Khek Kubařová (born 1 June 1987 in Rakovník) is a Czech actress. In December 2019 Khek Kubařová won the tenth season of StarDance with her professional partner Dominik Vodička. Selected filmography Films * ''Rafťáci'' (2006) ...

as Anička * Roman Luknár as Vlček * Ondřej Novák as Karel Šíma * Adam Kubišta as Eda Šíma * Norbert Lichý as Mayor *

Jan Budař Jan Budař (born 31 July 1977) is a Czech actor, director, singer, composer and script writer. Biography Budař was born in Frýdlant near Liberec. He graduated from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno in 2000. He ...

as Safecracker Petiška *

Václav Jiráček Václav Jiráček (born 28 September 1978 in Prague) is a Czech Republic, Czech theatre and film actor. He has appeared in films, TV series and theatre productions. Life After doing a degree in business, he decided to go into acting and was ev ...

as Josef Horák * Joachim Paul Assböck as Harald Wiesmann * Sabina Remundová as Tonička Farská * Anna Kratochvílová as Růženka * Ondřej Havel as Toník *

Marika Šoposká Marika Šoposká (born 12 November 1989 in Havlíčkův Brod) is a Czech actress. Selected filmography Films * '' Bába'' (2008) * ''Flower Buds'' (2011) * ''Lidice'' (2011) * ''Jan Hus'' (2015) * ''I, Olga Hepnarová'' (2016) * '' The Pl ...

as Helenka *

Detlef Bothe Detlef Bothe (born 9 December 1957) is an East German sprint canoer who competed in the mid-1970s. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by popula ...

Production

Filming started on 26 July 2010 at the

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; german: Jungbunzlau) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 42,000 inhabitants. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region and a major centre of the Czech automotive ind ...

prison, with

Karel Schwarzenberg Prince Karel of Schwarzenberg (, born 10 December 1937) is a Czech politician, former leader of the TOP 09 party and was its candidate for president of the Czech Republic in the 2013 election. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies ( ...

attending the first cut. The shoot lasted 49 days and involved locations including

Nové Strašecí Nové Strašecí is a town in Rakovník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,600 inhabitants. Administrative parts The village of Pecínov is an administrative part of Nové Strašecí. Geography Nové St ...

, and a secondary school in

Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...

. The scenes portraying Lidice were shot at the village of Chcebuz near

Štětí Štětí (; ) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. It lies on the Elbe river. It is located around north of Prague and west of Mělník. Administrative parts Vil ...

. The first promotional posters appeared at the film festival in Karlovy Vary 2010 on 8 July 2010.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1754123, Lidice * ''Fall of the Innocent'' https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Innocent-Karel-Roden/dp/B079NL6HTB 2011 films 2011 war drama films 2010s Czech-language films World War II films based on actual events Films about Operation Anthropoid Films about war crimes Films set in 1938 Films set in 1939 Czech war drama films Slovak drama films Films about massacres 2011 drama films Czech World War II films Czech films based on actual events Czech epic films