The main body of my review below was written before the Warner Brothers Archive Collection DVD release of the film late last year. My comments as to the DVD are below the review.
The recent "Valkyrie" and "Defiance" are not bad films at all - but they pale in comparison to "Operation Daybreak" in their depiction of heroic strikes against Hitler and Hitlerism in every particular. No film about the Holocaust or a Nazi-occupied country has EVER made me feel as involved, as claustrophobically surrounded by the madness of Fascism as this film. "Schindler's List," "The Diary of Anne Frank," "The Pianist," "Sophie's Choice," "Defiance," - all great movies dealing with lives controlled and stolen by the Third Reich - but compared to this film, they all come across as seeming like, well, what they are....films. But this movie...wow...it transcends the artful feel of cinema and if ever a film did it, this one does - it makes you feel like you are there! And the added glory is that this is a true story that follows the historic truth with very little liberty taken. It is the ultimate study of Heroic Hopelessness. The acting, the settings, the cinematrography, the absolutely hauntingly beautiful (and unrecorded!) music score, all of it - this is a MUST see. I won't go into plot detail to spoil it for those who know nothing or little of this true story. When I first saw it, I knew absolutely nothing about what would happen next. That is the best way to experience this film (and all films, actually). Suffice it to say that, as the credits rolled, I wept. I wept more tears after watching this movie than I've shed from all the other World War II films I have seen combined. And that is saying a lot!Read more ›
