After the war, Czechoslovakia expelled 3 million Germans living on her territory, most of whom had welcomed Hitler's annexation of Sudetenland when Great Britain and France betrayed the small country in 1938. The expulsion done by a presidential decree was a bloody affair. Maybe 300 000 Germans died in the process and many Germans still hate Czechs for it. (The Czechs, not all of whom are prepared to acknowledge their forefathers' brutality, point out that many of their countrymen had been killed by Nazis. The issue is controversial and topical today due to the Czech Republic's effort to become a member of the European Union for which they need support by both Austria and Germany.)
"The Rally" is based on a communist writer Vaclav Rezac's well-written novel of the same name and gives the Czech perspective. It largely ignores the fact that most of the Czechs who "rallied" and moved to Sudetenland to take over German properties were low-life opportunists or even criminals and not the genuine Czech minority driven out by the Nazis in 1938. (A large-scale destruction of a previously beautifully maintained region followed as a natural consequence.)
True or not, the film is a heroic adventure story, well made and effective. It was made by a prolific old timer, film director Otakar Vavra, who successfully adapted a number very different novels during his long carrier. For example sci-fi "Krakatit" by Karel Capek, a historical war epic "Proti vsem" by Alois Jirasek, poetic "Romance pro kridlovku" and The Inquisition horror "Kladivo na carodejnice".
