Anthropoid

In September 1938, a conference is held in Munich, between Hitler and leaders of France, Italy and Great Britain. Hitler threatens war unless the neighboring country of Czechoslovakia is given to Germany. Facing Germany with no allies, Czechoslovakia is forced to stand down its armies, and Germany occupies the country without a single shot being fired. A year later, Hitler invades Poland and heralds the start of World War II. Czechoslovak factories are critical to the German war effort, but output is hindered due to resistance to the German rule. Hitler sends his 3rd in command to take charge and bring control. Reinhard Heydrich is also known as the butcher of Prague. In December 1941, two agents from the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Jozef Gabcik (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubis (Jamie Dornan) are parachuted into their occupied homeland. Jozef is badly injured when he crashes through a tree upon landing, but both men set out to find their contact in Czechoslovakia. They are discovered shortly after by two resistance fighters who turn out to be traitors (they are discovered when one of them tries to use his phone line to report the fighters after bringing them into his home); one is shot by Jozef, but the other man escapes as Jan's hand was shaking and he could not take a clear shot. Stealing their truck, the agents head for Prague. When they seek out their contact, they are directed to Dr. Eduard (Sean Mahon), who stitches Jozef's foot, and arranges for the agents to meet other members of the resistance, led by "Uncle" Jan Zelenka-Hajsky (Toby Jones) and Ladislav Vanek (Marcin Dorocinski). The agents reveal that they are to execute "Operation Anthropoid," an assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (Detlef Bothe), the main architect of the Final Solution, and the head of Nazi forces in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. Ladislav believes that this is an impossible task. He also says that killing Heydrich would mean that Hitler would tear the town of Prague apart. Jozef says that his orders come directly from the Czechoslovak government in exile in London. Ladislav is not impressed and says that the exiled government is trying to impress the allies by assassinating the Nazi # 3 officer, but Prague will have to pay the price for the same. Hajsky is more supportive and understands that the allies want to test if the Czechoslovak are willing to resist Nazi Germany. Jan provides shelter for Jozef and Kubis with the Moravec family. With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city under lock-down, Jozef and Jan must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, an operation that, they hope, will change the face of Europe. With the help of two young women, Marie Kovarnikova (Charlotte Le Bon) and Lenka Fafkova (Anna Geislerova) along with other plotters, the agents plan to ambush Heydrich as he arrives at his headquarters (The Castle of Prague) by car. Heydrich's home and office are both heavily guarded and impenetrable. Once a month he also travels to Berlin, and this can be predicted as his personal train carriage it prepared for his travel several days in advance. The station and the train are also both heavily guarded. The train can be derailed outside Prague, but that is no guarantee that Heydrich would be killed. Hence the only feasible attack can be when he is in transit between the home and the office. Jozef is paired with Lenka and Kubis with paired with Marie, so they can move around town like normal couples. Jozef and Kubis start observing Heydrich's routine at his home and his schedule during the day to identify his patterns. Heydrich travels with an armed escort 30 seconds behind him. When the agents learn that Heydrich is about to be transferred to Paris, the plan goes into effect with the duo bolstered by the addition of other agents who have been parachuted into Czechoslovakia and the remaining resistance fighters in Prague. On 27 May 1942, the attack is carried out but nearly botched when Jozef's Sten sub-machine gun jams. Heydrich is severely wounded when Jan throws a bomb that shatters his limousine, followed by Jozef's fusillade of gunfire. Immediately after, the assassins go on the run, and Nazi forces round up thousands of Czech citizens and carry out a terrible reprisal. When Heydrich dies, the combined group of seven parachutists are pursued to their refuge at the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague. Fearing that his own family may fall victim to the reprisals, Resistance fighter Karel Curda (Jiri Simek) contacts Karl Hermann Frank, Heydrich's replacement as Reichsprotektor and betrays the others for amnesty and the reward being offered. Curda turned on the agents and revealed where they were hiding. The Moravec family who had sheltered Jozef and Jan while they planned the attack are arrested by the Gestapo. Marie Moravec (Alena Mihulova) commits suicide with a cyanide pill, but her son, Ata Moravec (Bill Milner), is tortured by the Gestapo until he reveals Jozef and Jan's hiding place in a concealed basement of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague. Hundreds of troops storm the cathedral where all the Resistance agents hiding there, engage in a fierce last stand, killing many German soldiers before they are overwhelmed and are killed or commit suicide, including Jan. As the SS ultimately break into the crypt, Josef Valcík, Jaroslav Svarc, Jan Hruby and Jozef commit suicide to avoid capture. Before Jozef kills himself, he is comforted by a vision of Lenka reaching her hand out to him. Reprisals continued with the village of Lidice destroyed with all the males 16 years old and older shot, children gassed to death and women sent to camps. Another Czech village, Lezaky, was also destroyed and its inhabitants were murdered because a radio transmitter was found there. Ultimately, a total of 15,000 Czechs were killed in the aftermath of the "Heydrich Terror". The assassination of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich was the only successful government-organized assassination of a top-ranking Nazi in the Second World War.