A Victimized National Identity

The victim of Frtiz Lang's film, Hangmen also Die, is the Czech people. The director portrays the Nazis in a very xenophobic manner while illustrating the Czechs as semi-American. The initial text during the introduction concludes by calling the Czechs unhappy but not unbeaten, giving a resonance with American feelings about the war at the same time. Another way that Lang causes audiences to sympathize with the Czech people is by printing many of the signs in the town in English. The background is full of signs in Czech and English, thus demonstrating a synthesis of the two languages. This unification can then be translated into a relationship between the two peoples of those languages, causing the audience to further side with the Czechs. Aside from signs that American audiences are able to read, Lang films the Nazis speaking only in German while the Czech citizens speak in English. The audience is led to believe that in the world of the film Czech equals English as German equals something foreign and unrecognizable. German speaking antagonists further alienate audiences from the Nazis as cause them to view the Czechs as victims in the film. Additionally, Lang shows Heydrich as a feminine, gaunt, evil man. Albeit, he was a monster, but he was an administrative one, not the visible epitome of rage that the actor portrays. Also, he was not as ugly as the American actor with sunken eyes and sickly makeup. Yet, this version fits Lang's work very well; audiences have very little sympathy for the androgynous Heydrich while feeling the pain of the Czech people. As this film demonstrates, through Fritz Lang's artful use of propaganda American audiences see that the Czech people are the victims of Nazi oppression.