Alvorada Sangrenta

While not perfectly accurate in every respect, it is as near to accurate in all of the important respects: the incredible risks (personal and national) and courage of the Czechs; the importance of Heydrich and his cold, brutal and efficient nature; the ending for all involved, in which no punches are pulled; betrayals and loyalty; how, in military operations, always expect the unexpected. Good understated acting, appropriate to the real people. Portrayal of Heydrich equally understated and disturbingly normal. Great music. Haunting, gut-wrenching ending. Slow build-up to climax finely done. I saw the original in the 1970s; video purchased a few years ago is fine except the subtitles are missing for the short German-speaking parts (which I remember in any case). Key event of WWII: if anyone merited assassination, Heydrich did. Quite apart from his activities in "Bohemia and Moravia" where he was known as the "Butcher of Prague", his top position in the SS and police apparatus (second only to Himmler) and his key role in planning and executing the Holocaust left him with the blood of millions on his hands. Of interest, if you watch Wannseekonferenz (1984; German, with English subtitles) and Operation Daybreak back-to-back, you have a continuous and accurate portrayal of Heydrich's last months. The former covers the 90 minutes of the Wannsee meeting in January 1942 in Berlin in which Heydrich, as second most important police official in the Reich, coordinates the implementation and industrialization of the Final Solution, the latter covers from January to June (his death), in which he has added to his CV by becoming the political administrator of Czechoslovakia (also a likely clue to his future ambitions). The two films could not be more different (one almost a stage play, the other more suspense/action), but are unified by excellent portrayals of Heydrich. It also underlines that while the Czechs assassinated Heydrich for purely national reasons, there was no lack of other justifications. If you cannot obtain Wannseekonferenz, the more recent (2001) English remake (Conspiracy, with Kenneth Branagh) will do. IMDb members rate the German version (8.0) slightly higher than Conspiracy (7.7), a judgement I agree with.

I first saw this movie back in 1976 when HBO, I believe, was making a run of it. It was a riveting movie I never forgot; I taped it from network TV about 12 years ago, and I recently started watching it again. Next I ordered the VHS tape, which arrived today and it is excellent, including quite a few scenes that the network version omits. The only problem is, as one viewer points out, is that in this version there is no subtitles, so you miss some of the dialog in the parts that are spoken in German. (The network version includes the subtitles, but is missing some scenes). The sound quality on the prerecorded VHS version is quite good if played back on a VHS hi-fi deck with a good sound system. I wish this movie were available on DVD! If anyone hears of it becoming available on DVD, please let me know! Hopefully a future DVD release will address the subtitle problem. It is indeed surprising how little attention this movie got. I even ordered a couple of books on Heydrich from Amazon, as well as the novel "Seven men at Daybreak" on which the movie is based. I find that the movie is nearly completely accurate. An excellent movie that anyone interested in history should see at least once.

I first saw this movie about six months ago, recorded it, and have been watching it regularly every since (about once a month). It is such a heart-wrenching movie, and truly one that you can never forget. It's the story of ulimate patriotism and friendship and loyalty. And the best thing about it....it is about 95% true.

The score of this film is absolutely amazing. The slow, pulsating beat that plays every time the movie his a little climax is so much more effective that the rising strings of an orchestra. There's just a subtlety to this whole movie...the pauses and glances are just as meaningful as the worlds spoken.

This is really a classic...as was said by someone else...and it IS criminal that almost no one has seen this movie...but I'm only 15..so what the hell do I know, right? :)

Operation Daybreak is an excellent film, I first saw it about 17 years ago and have since watched it several times. The plot is pretty much as it happened, save for some artistic licence with the tear-jerking finale, in real life Kubis(Bottoms) was killed in the prayer loft prior to Gabcik's(Andrew's) suicide. If you go to Prague you may want to check out the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius on Resslova,near Karlova Nam(Charles Square)Metro station,it's the church in the film and the crypt now houses a museum dedicated to the memory of the Czech peoples suffering at the hands of the Nazi's and Heydrich's assassination. Over the river in Kobylisy is the site of the assassination, two nearby streets have since been named Gabcikova and Kubisova in honour of the assassins.

I've seen this several times now and I can never watch the end of this movie. My husband and I watched it again last night and I simply broke down and cried for ten minutes. Such waste of young lives... To read the later fates of the characters in the credits was particularly wrenching. Very good performances, foremost of which must be Anton Difring. Beautiful use was made of Prague's older quarters. Unlike many I didn't like the music at all; I felt the subject deserved better. One wonders what the widow and daughter of Heinrich thought of the destruction of Lidice and its subsequent reincarnation in the aftermath of the war.