Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Men_Moi Herzog, is not a Director I admire much, but I enjoy his epic stories. Boredom, comes to mind when I watch a Herzog movie. For money, in recent years, he's done a lot of trash, I mean, if you ever see any of his novelties, you'll wonder, what went wrong when Herzog went to Hollywood. You would've expected, better quality output, but you get a Herzog who robs the rich with his name.Production wise though, Herzog is interesting in that he's directed massive uncivilized crowds in some of his films, which takes skill. Herzog is very primitive in that regards, and in it's most basic form, Herzog is King of his cult fame.This film, is good output, in that it's about Nazi Germany, and the little theatre based on a real life story, that demonstrates a interesting drama, with a heart of heroism.If you like cult films, and if you like production. This is good viewing. Could be disappointing to you though as it's a niche film.

tieman64 Evocative of German fables or fairy-tales, Werner Herzog's "Invincible" stars Stars Jouko Ahola as Zishe Breitbart, a Polish blacksmith. A strong, giant of a man, Breitbart travels to Germany. Here he acquires a job working at an occult club operated by Hanussen (Tim Roth), a sinister clairvoyant. The year is 1932. Adolf Hitler has just become Germany's chancellor."Invincible" opens with a parable about a chicken who acquires a false identity. Breitbart must himself hide his Jewish roots in the hopes of avoiding the wrath of anti-Semitic Germans. The film's middle section involves a battle of the wills, Hanussen using various theatrical productions to both pander to German nationalists and belittle Jews. For Hanussen, the German is a mighty, Aryan warrior. He is "invinvible" by divine and genetic right, whilst "the Jew" is a lowly, pathetic thing. When Breitbart reveals his Jewish identity and contests the racism of Hanussen, local Jews proudly rally behind him. Shockingly, it is then revealed that Hanussen is himself Jewish; a charlatan, he has adopted the persona of a German clairvoyant to secure his own safety."Invincible" ends with the death of Breitbart. Before his passing, he foretells the Holocaust, the rise of Naziism and warns Polish Jews to "prepare" and "be strong". Ironically, though he is exposed as a charlatan, Hanussen is himself "exonerated". In his fervent desire to erase his Jewish roots, Hanussen himself anticipates Hitler's coming persecutions.In typical Herzog fashion, "Invincible" is packed with mad prophets and contains a number of dreamy, fantastical passages. Shots of red crabs speak of a growing German Army, or perhaps an exodus of Jews, whilst the giant Breitbart is incredulously paired with his tiny brother, one all brawn, one all brain. Breitbart's death itself speaks to the death of Jewish invincibility, invisibility and arrogance (it is a lowly nail which kills Breitbart). As he dies, Breitbart imagines himself pushing his brother off into space, Europe's Jewish children floating to safety."Invincible" stars Jouko Ahola as Breitbart. A Finnish athlete who twice won the title of "World's Strongest Man", Ahola imbues his role with childlike sincerity. He's a religious man, moral, naive and pure of heart, the opposite to Hanussen, played with serpentine delight by the incredible Tim Roth. The film references Wagner's "Siegfried" and perhaps, faintly, the Bible's "Samson and Delilah".8/10 - Underrated Herzog.

dromasca It is really a great disappointment to see such an interesting director as Werner Herzog doing such a conventional and uninteresting film.The story is set in Poland and Berlin in the year before the Nazis ascended to power in Germany. Zisa, a Jewish strongman from Poland goes to Berlin and becomes involved in the cabaret shows of magician and fortune teller Hanusse, first playing the role of an 'aryan' here and then as a new Jewish 'Samson'. Unfortunately this allegedly true story is treated in the most conventional and stereotype way one could imagine, without any dramatic tension, character development or historical revelation. Poland's Jewish shtetl is idealized as in some Shalom Alechem inspired story without the charm of Shalom Alechem. Berlin between the two wars lacks the fascination and spark of many good movies that dealt with th etime and place and is populated by operetta villains Nazis. Hanussen is a fascinating character, but here he is uni-dimensional and makes us long for the mysterious and complex view we got from him in Istvan Szabo's 'Hanussen'. Moreover history is twisted, Hanussen is killed in the movie in 1932, while in reality he was assassinated in 1933 a few weeks after the Nazis came to power. Some dream scenes haunt the hero during the movie but they do not succeed to transmit any emotion or message.If Herzog had made this film at the beginning of his career I would have doubted his talent. Having done as a mature director, after he already proved what a fine director he can be is really the only mystery around this movie.

interworlds Like the previous commenter, I found this film a very near miss as far as popular consumerism is concerned. I feel that the director, Werner Hertzog made the film in a "matter-of-fact" fashion rather than giving it a style and panache that this kind of subject matter really needed. For instance, the life in the Jewish stetl in Poland is not that far removed from life in the "glittering" Berlin. Although the stetl is in the countryside, it needed to be filmed in a more pastorale fashion to be counterpointed with the crazy "everything goes" 1932 Berlin which one sees very little of anyway. The Palace of Occultism theater in Berlin was trying to be glamorous, it missed the mark. It was reasonably oppulant but was presented too ordinarilly. The MC was a bit ho-hum when he should have been scintillating and on the edge which was the style in those years. (Remember Joel Grey in "Cabaret") All this said, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film. Tim Roth plays the Magician with great brooding undertones, quite mesmerizing at times and the Strongman reminds me of Arnold Schwartzenegger in his very early days. I think he must be a very sweet man as that's how he plays the character. This film is definitely worth watching and there are many things in it that Mr. Hertzog should be highly commended for. My main comment would be lack of a difinative style.