This scene is one of my favorites in the film “Hangmen Also Die” for three very good and somewhat relavent reasons. One is that Svoboda, the male lead, hides within the people of the theatre, showing that though the single act was him pulling the trigger the people were behind him. This is seen in some of the sentiments of all but one of the theatre goers, namely the “Nazi simp”. Secondly it shows the people all in agreement with the clapping at the very least as well as the over all unity of the citizens against a totalitarian regime. The man who stands up and says “no one here was applauding” alludes to later parts of the film where the citizens band together and frame a nazi sympathizer for the assassination instead of the rebel among them. Thirdly a nazi gets punched in the face and it is almost comical how cathartic it feels. No one in the theatre so much as bats an eye towards this act and everyone simply leaves him on the floor, it’s so good. The whole scene sums up the basic premises of the movie in it’s entirety. Nazis are stupid but more importantly the people, the Czech people but all people, must band together for if none of us submit they hold no power over us. Also it’s still ok to punch Nazis but I’d recommend laughing in their face because their egos are about as fragile as a bubble in a cactus farm.