Parents' Guide to

Anthropoid

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Depressing, dull, violent take on a true WWII story.

Movie R 2016 120 minutes
Anthropoid Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 18+

Based on 4 parent reviews

age 17+

Powerful Story of Czech Resistance Against German Rule

This movie tells the story of a group of Czech men and women who resist Nazi occupation of their homeland. It's a story of the utmost bravery to stand up against tyranny no matter the cost. This movie might be criticized as dark and depressing, but that's exactly what war is. I'm giving this movie 3 stars because while the story was engaging and well-written I found it difficult to understand many of the conversations without turning on subtitles (and this is an English-language movie). The first half of this movie is relatively tame, with the resistance planning their moves and setting the stage for the intense warfare that takes place in the second half of the film, where the Czechs and Germans go head-to-head with many deaths on both sides. There's lots of blood in this movie and death by suicide. There's a part in this movie where a woman gets beaten and a particularly gruesome scene where a boy gets tortured by the Nazis (I won't give the exact details as to not spoil the movie). Language is fairly mild and unless you can understand German you probably won't even recognize it. This was an average film. It was worth seeing once but it isn't one that I own or would likely re-watch. 3/5.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
age 17+

Fascinating story of the history of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and how a brave few resisted.

A fascinating story of how a few very dedicated patriots could undertake such a daunting mission facing tremendous challenges and against huge odds with their lives and the lives of thier families and loved ones on the line. This is a story that needed to be told and it is told very well in this movie.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (3 ):

There are many important WWII stories worth telling, but sometimes movies, like this one, take the wrong approach, and we end up with something that's poorly made, tedious, and depressing. Writer/director Sean Ellis and co-writer Anthony Frewin apparently researched Anthropoid heavily, but they still managed to leave out basic details that would let an audience know a little something about the characters -- or even how to tell the seven total parachutists in the story apart from one another.

We're rarely aware of simple details like "who," "what," "where," or "why." The overall gray sheen and the irritating, constantly wobbly shaky-cam cinematography don't help, especially since much of the movie is shot in close or medium shots. Anthropoid is structured in such a way that it's either numbingly repetitive or anti-climactic -- or else it falls back on overly familiar modern transitional techniques to bridge the events. The ending will leave most viewers thoroughly dispirited.

Movie Details

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