Days of Betrayal (Czech: Dny zrady) is a 1973 historical film from Czechoslovakia, directed by Otakar Vávra. The film was meant as the first part of Vávra's "war trilogy" consisting of Days of Betrayal, Sokolovo and Liberation of Prague. It has two parts that total nearly 4 hours.
The film chronicles one of the most important phases of the interwar period leading to World War II, the Sudetenland
crisis in Czechoslovakia that was fostered and exploited by Adolf Hitler, leading to the infamous Munich Agreement (at which Czechoslovakia had no representative) and subsequent partition of the country and "protectorate" (read: occupation) by Nazi Germany over Czech lands, in 1938-1939.
See also Munich - The Edge of War.
Days of Betrayal provides examples of the following tropes:
- Artistic License – History: Owing to the fact that the film was made in Communist Czechoslovakia, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Komunistická strana Československa, KSČ) is presented as pretty much the only faction defending the nation when Hitler starts occupying it, while this was far from being the truth. Likewise, the Czech bourgeoisie is presented as pretty much Les Collaborateurs.
- Docudrama: The whole film is more akin to a historical recreation than a fiction set in the era.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: The opening credits is made of views of Prague and its famous landmarks.
- Evil Is Hammy: Hitler, who else? As per usual depictions, he's often loud and prone to breakdowns.
- Evil Plan: The scenes of Hitler and his staff where they discuss the ways to advance their conquest plans when exploiting the Sudetenland crisis while pondering expected responses from Western European countries (chiefly France and the United Kingdom) and the USSR.
- Hope Spot: Czechoslovakia's President Edvard Beneš is convinced that France, the United Kingdom and USSR will respond in case Hitler makes any move in his country due to various alliance treaties. History will prove him wrong.
- Movie Multipack: The film comes in two parts.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Konrad Henlein and his völkisch party, before they eventually join the genuine article upon the annexation of Sudetenland by Germany.
- The Quisling: Konrad Henlein, a leading Sudeten German politician who fully supports Hitler's projects to annex the Sudetenland and dismember Czechoslovakia.
- Translation Convention: Apart from scenes where Germans talk to each other in German, all the rest is in Czech, even those where no Czechoslovakian characters appear (scenes with Chamberlain, Daladier etc).
- Villainous Breakdown: Unsurprisingly, Hitler is prone to get angry at the slightest suggestions from his staff that some things might not work.
