My friend and I saw the movie today and neither of us could figure out what the significance of the carved German soldier was. She thought it looked like Hitler, I just recognized it as a German soldier. Why did he make it and why did he give it to the mother to give to the violinist?
shareI wondered the same thing. Maybe it contained the cyanide pill she took?
shareMy interpretation was that it was to indicate that he respected the mother and family as a whole as soldiers who were risking their lives for the cause. The mother was not a coward when she killed herself, she was doing her job as a soldier to protect those in hiding so they couldn't break her. Just like most of the other important people involved in the operation had to do.
shareI am with dbordett - it contained the cyanide.
To me it was the resistance leaders letting her know what the mission was as well as saying goodbye. I thought the carved figure looked like Heydrich. I don't think she or her son knew what they were planning and they really did not have much chance of staying alive after the assassination attempt even if it was successful. They did not know if the armored escort would be there or not.
shareI saw the figure as just a soldier, and I assumed it was meant to be a Czech soldier. Yes, they had an army...it wasn't very large, and it was in absentia. The two spies were members of that army, they weren't in the British army.
Mustard goes on Hot Dogs. Mayo goes on Burgers. There will be no compromise on this.
I am fairly sure it was his way of saying what the mission was without actually saying it out loud.
I don't recall they told the kid or the mother what their mission was,they did tell the 2 women helpers.
I need to watch this again. I was sure it was connected to the cyanide. Everyone has valid points about it being a covert message though.
To me, it is sort of unreal that in a operation where they couldn’t even whisper their purpose that they would leave behind a very tangible piece of evidence like a wood carving of the intended target.