The Man with the Iron Heart

A film with no direction and no suggestions of any mood or feeling. It looks as if somebody let a purely technical cameraman film a screenplay. The first, possibly intentionally cold and aloof half about Heydrich is at least interesting – real life murderers of this caliber will always be gratifying subject matter for documentarists. The second half, however, doesn’t even have characters. All it’s got are some shapeless figures whose movements you watch from the same distance as Heydrich, whereas they’re supposed to work as a contrast to his diabolical coldness. The ending is similarly unremarkable, without a hint of suspense. In a surprise victory, Anthropoid defeats the The Man with the Iron Heart 4:2. (18/06/2017)

How is it possible that they failed to communicate this over in Hollywood and gave the green light to two movies about the Heydrich assassination, basically one right after another? I’d really love to avoid the comparison to Anthropoid, but I’m afraid I can’t. I’ll start with the positives; those can basically only be found in the first half of the movie that focuses on Heydrich in a rather surprising way. It didn’t tell me anything I wouldn’t already know, but it’s interesting to witness the story from a different angle. I also have to admit that I liked the assassins’ characters just as much as the final scene. It wasn’t as epic as it was in Anthropoid and perhaps it even felt a bit smoother. Next, the music: it was truly perfect. The sorrowful piano created exactly the kind of atmosphere that the movie deserved. Now to start with the negatives (and this was really a huge issue with me): Prague doesn’t look like Prague at all. And that’s something considering that they really tried with all the posters and signs in Czech. Anyhow, I know that a foreign viewer won’t give a damn. But I sure do. Just like I give it about some of the historical inaccuracies that you could also find in Antropoid. Yet again, the foreign viewer won’t give a damn about those either. Overall, I feel like this movie is the weaker one out of the two. If they, however, were blended into a single movie, we would have probably gotten a one-of-a-time unforgettable piece that would be unparalleled in war cinematography. (15/05/2018)

During the premiere, I considered The Man with the Iron Heart a waste of time, but when it appeared on TV years later, curiosity won me over to see if such harsh and venomous critiques from movie fans were truly deserved. Well, they were. I want to emphasize that I didn't care at all about the historical accuracy of the events portrayed; I simply saw it as a genre film from a Hollywood studio that aims to entertain and appeal to a global audience, where there is only a minimum number of knowledgeable viewers familiar with the historical events of World War II. However, the film fails because it doesn't know what it wants to be, or rather, Jimenez tries to cram everything into it. Superficial psychology, romance, adventure, war, political drama, etc. It doesn't come together as a whole, lacking any atmosphere or significant memorable performances. If the film manages to entertain in a few moments, then it's an unintended charm. For example, when the paratroopers conquer the Alpine peaks after jumping, or when surprised German soldiers are greeted with machine gun fire while attempting to infiltrate the paratroopers' hiding place. It is watchable, and I can understand giving it three stars, but a good film is something completely different. Overall impression: 35%. Valkyrie is a case of a Hollywood blockbuster that managed to use the resources of a major studio for something positive. The Man with the Iron Heart is the complete opposite. (05/04/2021)

The Man with the Iron Heart is more reminiscent of Cruise's Valkyrie than Anthropoid. Although it is a co-production, it's more of a Hollywood take on the subject matter. While the film starring Cruise as von Stauffenberg is a great experience benefiting from an elaborate coup plan, The Man with the Iron Heart is a film in which the explanation of the background to the assassination seems to be missing. The script isn't clever enough and must be very confusing for viewers for whom the realities are not automatic. The actors are also problematic, with Rosamund Pike as Lina Heydrich and Mia Wasikowska as Anna Novak among the most prominent faces, while Jason Clarke plays Reinhard Heydrich as a robot, with no emotion, and no interest. Also, the credibility of the whole stands and falls on the portrayal of Lina Heydrich. Lina von Osten was not an elegant blonde from better society who was only bothered by her husband's lack of interest during the war. Lina von Osten was a typical person who was shaped by her relationship to the land, came from a poor farm on the island of Fehmarn and, together with her family, found meaning in NSDAP-related activities in the late 1920s. The film focuses only in its influence on the direction of Heydrich's career after his expulsion from the Navy. Its subsequent fate was very different from the abbreviation presented here. In summary, The Man with the Iron Heart is one of those weak assassination-inspired films. The same is not necessarily true of Laurent Binet's book. (24/03/2021)

Having awarded Anthropoid one star, I can't put this on the same level. It didn’t seem like a bad film at first. It managed to explain who Reinhard was to the less knowledgeable viewer, but all it took was Night of the Long Knives for me to snap back to reality. Why do the makers of WWII films find it so hard to understand that an MP 38 submachine gun, as in 1938, could not have been used by members of the SS in 1934? And it all goes downhill from there. Jan Kubiš makes his own explosives (!!!), the driver Klein isn’t just shot in his thigh but shot dead, the Moravec family must have drunk a youth potion before entering the scene, and the church fight is turned into a complete farce in which the soundtrack is accompanied by a Bren light machine gun. The role of the Americans in the production of this travesty was apparently to supply the Czech resistance and paratroopers with Thompson submachine guns. And the scene with Reinhard on his deathbed... I was confirmed once again that The Assassination from 1964 is simply unbeatable. (22/01/2018)

Maybe if the film hadn't come a year after Anthropoid it would have been a little better, but it wouldn't have changed the fact that it's all so mechanical and emotionless, only a depiction of one historical event and some atrocities. That doesn't feel like enough to me. (27/11/2017)