Operace Silver A

Not without reason it got a prize for the best Czech TV movie of the year and one wonders, why it didn't make it to the theatre. Especially the second part is very chilly and thrilling. However, it is also true that the way with which the filmmakers handled the story can be viewed as problematic by many people acquianted with the real historical events.

As the name indicates, the movie is devoted to the heroes of World War II, paratroopers from the group "Silver A" (Bartoš, Valčík, Potůček), which was one of the most successful sabotage groups that had landed in the Protectorate (besides "Out Distance" and "Anthropoid"), and had also been involved in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The irony is that the actual story mainly deals with the fates of Hana Krupková and Táňa Hladěnová, two young females dreaming about star career in the Czech cinema, who played an important part in the underground net of the Czech resistance. The third person that gives a lot of space is captain Bartoš, the commander of "Silver A".

The screenwriters obviously (ab)used the fact that Bartoš had been a renowned womanizer, and filled the movie with love affairs that had little to do with the actual activity of "Silver A". As a result, an unware spectator could conclude that the main goal of "Silver A" in the Protectorate was to seduce young Czech resistance members. In order to "demythicize" the glorious aureola of the Czech resistance, they went too far and the "human side" of Bartoš as an impertinent brat is so human that it very probably deviates dramatically from his real character - as indicated by furious complaints of his former cobilligerents.

On the other hand, it is true that some aspects of Bartoš' character were deeply negative - as a soldier, he was very brave, but also very reckless, and his carelessness became almost fatal for the whole group "Silver A". Furthermore, his love affair with Táňa Hladěnová that escalated into a violent conflict with her husband (an important resistance member, lawyer František Hladěna), was allegedly based on a true story.

In summary, it is very difficult to rate this movie objectively. We, who didn't know Bartoš personally, can only speculate to what a degree his honor was denigrated. On the other hand, the undeniable quality of this movie makes it very difficult to dismiss it even in case, if he were depicted in a perverse sort of way. In any case, it is worthy of watching, as one can learn more about people, who have usually been neglected in film depictions of Heydrich's assassination.

Alfred Bartos, the leader of the Czech paratroopers, one of the main characters in Operation Silver A is characterized in this movie like a disgusting drunkard, messing with all the women in the story (including wife of the man, who is actually hiding him from the Nazis!). In fact, he was described by his real life co-troopers like a man of honor, knowing the Operation means a certain death to him. One of his war-friends wrote that the Czech paratroopers were ready to die for him in the combat!

Look, I don't like deificiation of the heroes, but looking at the problem with sober eyes...This movie stinks! And it stinks a lot! It is based on a true story, but it has nothing to do with the truth. All the paratroopers (hidden within the Protectorate) are acting like morons, which behavior would lead to their immediate revelation. No one believes, that the Allies would send an old drunk as a leader of such important mission. Also the members of secret resistance are sometimes very unreasonable. The scene, where the resistance members are talking about their activities with other people in the street, looks like it has been removed from a parody. Also the paratroopers would never do anything that could bring their helpers to any problem (a problem with paratroopers meant death).

This war movie describes the real war analogous to the "'Allo 'allo" serial. But the "Silver A" dramatization is dangerous, because the story pretends to be true.

You may find Strach's "Silver A" interesting, only if you imagine the secret resistance members like people who in general say: Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once...