ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Steineded How sad is this?

GazerRise Fantastic!

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

dromasca Biography movies take famous people lives, process, embellish and make them more interesting. Something different seems to happen with Istvan Szabo's 'Hanussen' - though it does have its doze of processing I have the feeling that the real life of the character was more interesting than the life in the movie.Eric Jan Hanussen was the stage name of a magician in Berlin's 20s and early 30s. His show were not based on special effects, but on an extraordinary capacity of guessing the thoughts, controlling the minds and foreseeing the future of the people in the audience. We can debate to what extent this was real or con art, but there was something true in his charismatic presence and his power of hypnosis. Janussen however remained in history not by his talent as a magician and not even as a hipnotizer, but because he was capable to predict and express in the language of the magicians the ascension to power of Hitler. What now is history trivia was not that obvious in the 20s and beginning of the 30s and the power of prediction of Hanussen was beyond the general level, reaching the level of detail of the fire that destroyed the Reichstag.Istavan Szabo film goes however far away from the real Hanussen. A visit on the site of the family http://www.steinschneider.com/biography/hanussen_bio.htm reveals a character even more mysterious and fascinating than in the movie. In reality Hanussen was Jewish, but this fact was not known to his Nazi friends. It is not clear whether he was driven by opportunistic reasons or by fear, or by a combination of both, but the real Janussen seems to have been far from the unwilling person, or even opponent as described in the movie, but may have been rather a real sympathizer. It is even said that he even met Hitler, and taught him some crowd control and staging techniques used later by the dictator in his big mass shows. Hard to say why all these details were not presented in the movie, they could have made the character even more complex and interesting.Klaus Maria Brandauer's performance is magnificent, he masters the screen as Hanussen must have mastered the stage, it is maybe the best thing that remained from this film, together with the powerful and colorful rendition of the decadent atmosphere of Berlin during the Weimar Rebublic. Yet the real Hanussen may have been even a more fascinating character than Brandauer's Hanussen.

Mitch-38 *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* Well thought out and acted story of German soldier suffering head wound in the First World War. Languishing in a hospital, he discovers he now is gifted (or cursed) with the ability to predict the future. With the advent of the end of hostilities, he travels in a roadshow with an army pal. He becomes the latest societal "caus celebre," as one could imagine. HANUSSEN (portrayed excellently by Klaus Maria Brandauer) gets caught up in the fame, while the depressing nature of his predictions spell doom for those around him, and the German nation. A very good film, deftly realized. Recommended.

Mort-31 István Szabó is one of the best directors in Europe. He doesn't use any special effects, only unusual, demanding stories and Europe's best actors. He is an international director but he never forgets that he is actually Hungarian and there are always some Hungarian speaking people in his movies.In "Hanussen" he tells the very gripping story of a man who predicts Hitler's advancement. It was a most interesting film and I was a bit disturbed afterwards because they didn't make it quite clear whether it's based on a true story or not.However, watch this movie. It's also a great performance by Klaus Maria Brandauer.

xenophil This is the story of the fatal hubris of an artist who vainly tries to maintain neutrality in the face of encroaching Nazism, in order to pursue his brilliant career as a hypnotist and magician. The suspense grows unbearable as the perverse evil intrudes into every aspect of life.There are wonderful examples of the way the Hitler's propaganda machine co-opts everything in sight, and how people underestimate, over and over again, the lengths he will go to. The character of Bruno Bettelheim, with a clear, humane view of life, appears as a foil to the protagonist who is seduced by his 'art'. I really liked the irony of the man who predicts the future, coming up against his own unrolling fate, as becomes clear in the last, most sinister scene.This is my favorite of the three Istvan Szabo movies about protagonists trying to control their fate in the web of intrigue of a totalitarian state. It is exciting and provocative.