Not the life story of our Editor but a star-studded account of the real life Operation Anthropoid, the audacious World War Two mission to kill top ranking Nazi, Reinhard Heydrich, based on the international bestseller ‘HHhH’
Prague, 1942. The Third Reich is at its zenith, controlling most of Europe. Reinhard Heydrich, dubbed “the man with the iron heart” by Hitler, has risen to the top of the Nazi Party as head of the SS, the Gestapo, and the seemingly unstoppable architect of the ‘Final Solution’. However, a small group of Czech Resistance fi ghters are about to attempt the impossible – a veritable suicide mission to assassinate this embodiment of evil.
Director Cédric Jimenez, following up his acclaimed 2014 crime film The Connection, has assembled an absolutely sterling cast for this handsomely mounted, brilliantly absorbing biopic. Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and …um….. Terminator Genisys) is mesmerising as the title character, the steely eyed and unflinching Reinhard Heydrich, also known as ‘the blond beast’ and behind some of the worst atrocities of the war; Rosamund Pike (Oscar-nominated for Gone Girl) is impeccably unpleasant as Heydrich’s wife Lina; and Stephen Graham (Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire) is outstanding as the diabolical SS general Heinrich Himmler. Meanwhile BAFTA-winner Jack O’Connell (Starred Up, ‘71), Jack Reynor (Free Fire) and Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) make up the resistance fighters intent on halting evil in its tracks. In part a chilling portrait of the rise of the Nazis, as well as an inspiring account of an extraordinary attempt to stop them by striking at their very core, THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART is a superbly made war.
Out on Blu Ray & Dvd on 8th January 2018.
*******FIVE FASCINATING FACTS *******
- HhHh was a war time Nazi acronym for Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich (“Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich”)
- The film was to be released in 2016 but that year saw the release of ‘Anthropoid’ which dealt with the same operation so The Man with the Iron Heart’s release date was held for a year.
- Director Cédric Jimenez previous film was also a period piece called ‘The Connection’ set in 1970s France about a magistrate taking down a drugs cartel.
- Star Jason Clarke played a character called Eddie Furlong in the 1999 TV series ‘All Saints’. Edward Furlong was an actor who would play the role of John Connor in 1991’s Terminator 2 and who Jason Clarke would also play in 2015’s Terminator Genisys.
- And ……um…..ur……um …it’s not about the Tin man in The Wozard of Oz ( ‘You’re Fired!’ – Ed)
