The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Here’s a nice anecdote to kick-off with; in 1943 – one year after the assassination of the leader of Nazi-ruled Czechoslovakia, Reinhard Heydrich – two films dramatising the subject were released.

That’s kind-of peculiar, but what’s really strange is that almost 80 years later, it’s happened again. After 2016’s Anthropoid, French production, The Man with the Iron Heart, as been released, both focusing on the story of the man credited as being the architect of the Holocaust. Creepy much?

Also known as HHhH, this has worked to the film’s disadvantage; the comparisons have deemed the former to be the better film, but that doesn’t mean HHhH is completely devoid of positives.

Grounded in a much more European style of filmmaking, there’s much less jingoism than one would customarily find in Hollywood-made war films – there’s something gritty and raw about the picture, and even a certain panache, but it doesn’t quite pave over the structural issues. It’s a classic rise-and-fall story, except that in this case, the rise is infinitely more interesting than the fall.

The film is essentially split into two very distinct parts. After opening with the final few moments before his assassination by two Czechoslovakians, the film then winds back to show the rise of Heydrich from a lowly recruit, to his position of rule over Czechoslovakia. That in itself makes for interesting material, but it’s the second half that collapses things. It then switches to the perspective of the resistance fighters – and it leaves audiences a little confused.

The first half doesn’t give you anyone to root for – it’s almost an hour of pure Nazism on-screen. That’s fine; there’s still value in charting the rise of such a prominent figure, but when the second half comes along, you’re suddenly meant to take the side of the Czechoslovakian resistance. It’s a strange structural change that shifts the focus of the film almost completely.

There are various historical inaccuracies, particularly in the second half, which all amounts to the first half being much more engaging – and this is, in part, down to the cold, harsh performance of Jason Clarke. He’s a seasoned actor who has one of those, “what did I see him in?” faces, but it’s his portrayal of Heydrich, the brief coverage of how the Nazi party came to power and the Lady Macbeth-like relationship that he has with his wife that earns the film what praise it deserves.