Story of Mašín brothers getting big screen treatment
The dramatic story of the Mašín brothers’ armed anti-Communist resistance group is currently being made into a film. Written by top Czech screenwriter Marek Epstein, it is being directed by a distant relative of the Mašíns, Czech Television reported.
Josef and Ctirad Mašín entered the history books after they and one other member of their armed resistance group, Milan Paumer, managed to evade a massive manhunt and escape to West Berlin in 1953. They later moved to America and served in the US Army.
However Czech public opinion is divided over the Mašíns, who killed two police officers and a wages clerk prior to fleeing across the Iron Curtain, and shot dead a number of East German police as they fought to reach the West.
Some regard them as heroes, others seem them as cold-blooded murderers.
Now their story is set to reach the big screen under the title Brothers, Czech Television reported. The director of the project is Tomáš Mašín, a distant relative.
Shooting of the film, penned by the leading Czech screenwriter Marek Epstein, began this month. Josef Mašín is played by Oskar Hes while Jan Nedbal takes the role of Ctirad.
Tomáš Mašín plans to portray the divisive brothers in a positive light.
The filmmaker told Czech Television that the pair were heroic, had strong characters and were willing to lay down their lives for their values.
“If somebody is shooting at you, you shoot back. In such a case there is no room for pacifism,” Mašín said.
