Among tens of millions of killings in the Second World War, one stood out for the spectacular way it was committed, as well as for its far-reaching consequences. This is reflected in it becoming the subject of numerous feature films, the first two made even while the war was still going on. The event is the subject of Operation Daybreak, a 1975 historical docudrama directed by Lewis Gilbert.
The plot is based on Seven Men at Daybreak, a book by British journalist Alan Burgess, which dealt with Operation Anthropoid – the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. The territory, occupied by Nazi Germany since the 1939 carve-up of Czechoslovakia, became crucial for the German war effort due to its developed industry and highly skilled Czech labour force. Heydrich (played by Anton Diffring), known as the third-highest-ranking member of the SS, chief of the Nazi security services and the most likely successor to Adolf Hitler, quickly developed a reputation for extreme cruelty and earned the nicknames “Hangman” and “Butcher of Prague”. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile decided to send a symbolic message to the Nazis by assassinating Heydrich, and three former Czechoslovak soldiers were selected for the task – Sergeant Jan Kubiš (played by Timothy Bottoms), Sergeant Jozef Gabčík (played by Anthony Andrews) and Sergeant Karel Čurda (played by Martin Shaw). The three of them were parachuted into occupied Czechia by an RAF plane and, despite landing in the wrong location, managed to contact local resistance groups who, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to help them with their mission. After months of planning and preparations, Kubiš and Gabčík finally got their chance on 27 May 1942 and ambushed Heydrich’s car on a Prague street. Not everything went to plan, but Heydrich was gravely wounded and succumbed to his injuries a few days later. As the assassins hid, Nazi authorities conducted a massive manhunt and began bloody reprisals against Czech civilians that would include the infamous destruction of Lidice. All this proved too much for one member of the group, who decided to betray his comrades in exchange for money and his family’s safety.
Heydrich’s assassination was first depicted only a year after the event in Hollywood with two films – Hangmen Also Die! and Hitler’s Madman – made for war propaganda purposes and with next to no concern for historical accuracy. In 1964, Communist Czechoslovakia produced the first serious dramatic reconstruction in the relatively unknown black-and-white film Atentát, which, despite having some real-life characters' names changed, enjoys a reputation for good historical accuracy. Operation Daybreak, made nine years later as one of the first major co-productions between a US studio and Eastern Bloc countries, is the first version made in colour. Its resources, which include a respectable British cast, authentic Czech locations and the famous Barrandov studios, are mostly used well. Lewis Gilbert, best known as a director and for his later work on the James Bond series, is very good at directing action scenes, especially the spectacular gun battle at the end, which remains exciting despite its outcome being predictable. Operation Daybreak, however, suffers from a not-so-inspiring soundtrack by David Hentschel, including the anachronistic use of synthesisers in the wrong places.
The greatest strength and weakness of Operation Daybreak is the script by Ronald Harwood, an author best known for his Oscar-awarded work on the similarly themed The Pianist. The film has a disappointing first half, where there is at times too much character exposition, misguided sentimentality, and an obligatory romantic subplot between Kubiš and resistance activist Anna Malinová, played by Nicola Pagget with great zeal, which feels like a Hollywood convention despite being based on real life. Things become interesting only in the second half, when the protagonists and their countrymen are subjected to the bloody consequences of their act. This is where Operation Daybreak strays from a simplistic view of WWII and allows the audience, just like the character of resistance leader Janák (played by an almost unrecognisable Joss Ackland), to ask some uncomfortable and heretical questions, including whether Operation Anthropoid was worth it. While most would agree that Heydrich, one of the most odious figures in the history of Nazi Germany, founder of the murderous Einsatzgruppen and an architect of the Final Solution, probably had it coming, the way justice was delivered didn’t make a major change in the grand scheme of things. Heydrich’s work was simply continued by his deputy Karl Frank (played in the film by Carl Duering), another Nazi war criminal, and questions about the ultimate result of Operation Anthropoid are asked to this day. But even those viewers who don’t have patience for complicated historical debates would probably appreciate Operation Daybreak, and it could be said that Operation Anthropoid, simply by providing heroic characters worthy of a number of films, served at least some purpose.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
