''Atentát'' (English title: ''The Assassination'') is a 1964 black-and-white Czechoslovak

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Jiří Sequens. The film depicts events before and after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

assassination of top German leader

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

('' Operation Anthropoid''). Czech historians have called the film the historically most accurate depiction of the events surrounding ''Operation Anthropoid''. The agents portrayed in the film are not referred to by their real names but by the historical cover names they assumed for the operation. For example, Jan Kubiš is called Otto Strnad.

Plot

On September 27, 1941,

, one of the most feared top officials of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

, an architect of

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

'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 the UK, a squad of agents is selected and trained before parachuting into Czechoslovakia. The team operates in Prague and plans the attack for about six months. The mission, Operation Anthropoid, is executed in the capital on May 27, 1942, in an

ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...

. It almost fails when one of their Sten guns jams, but Heydrich is severely wounded by a grenade. Heydrich eventually dies from his wounds and during the frenzied aftermath the German high command takes savage reprisals, including the massacre of 340 men, women and children of

Lidice Lidice (; ) 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, which was completely destroyed on 10 June 19 ...

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 take their own lives.

Cast

Radoslav Brzobohatý Radoslav Brzobohatý (; 13 September 1932 – 12 September 2012) was a Czech actor. He acted in film, television and theatre, portraying around 200 roles during his career. Life and career Radoslav Brzobohatý was born on 13 September 1932 in ...

– 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 Jiří Kodet (6 December 1937 – 25 June 2005) was a Czech actor. He appeared in more than ninety films between 1951 and 2003. His mother Jiřina Steimarová and his daughter Barbora Kodetová are also actresses. Selected filmography Refere ...

– Serg. Tousek (based on Josef Valčík) * Harry Studt -

Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a admiral (Germany), German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military intelligence, military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Initially a supporter of Ad ...

* Josef Vinklář – Serg. Vrbas (based on Karel Čurda)

Reception

Awards

* 4th Moscow International Film Festival - Golden Prize. * 6th Thessaloniki Week of Greek Cinema - Honorable mention, foreign film out of competition.As ''Ο δήμιος της Πράγας''

Notes

References

External links

* *
The Assassination
' at Filmový přehled {{DEFAULTSORT:Atentat 1964 films Czech black-and-white films Czechoslovak black-and-white films 1960s Czech-language films Films about Operation Anthropoid Czech war films 1964 war films Czech World War II films Czechoslovak World War II films