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.

Jay Raskin This movie is closest in tone to Roberto Benini's "Life is Beautiful" It is a fairy tale set in the time of Nazi Germany. Just as Benini's movie gave us a fairy tale of a Jewish man turning a concentration camp into a child's game, this movie has a Jewish super-hero directly challenging the Nazi's concept of a German Master Race.Actually it takes place just prior to the Nazi's real take-over of Germany. This gives us a chance to see the transition from sunlight to to the Nazi Night. In this aspect and in its portrayal of the entertainment world of the German elite, it also evokes "Cabaret".There's great acting here by Tim Roth and Jouko Ahola. They start off as stereotypes, but manage to add depth without ever humanizing the characters. They add dimensions without abandoning their original characters.I think anybody who loved "Cabaret" and "Life is Beautiful" will enjoy this movie. For those who want a bit less Romanticism and more realism in their 1930's Germany movies, there's "Schindler's List," by Steven Spielberg, "Diary of Ann Frank," by George Stevens and "Rossenstrasse" by Margarethe von Trotta.

bob the moo Zishe is a Jew living in Poland and working with his family as a blacksmith. When a fight breaks out in a local restaurant, Zishe uses his impressive strength to fend off his attackers but finds himself facing a bill for the damage. To make the money to cover the cost, Zishe enters a local circus to challenge the resident strongman. Easily winning, he draws the attention of a talent scout who offers him the chance for more work in Germany. Despite the reservations of his parents, Zishe travels to Berlin where he joins the high-class show of mystic Hanussen. Playing to mostly film stars and members of the ascending Nazi party, Zishe plays the role of an Aryan strongman. Initially happy to do so, the deception and denial of self gradually eats at him as he performs on stage.I may not be the most cine-literate person in the world but I know enough to give any film from Werner Herzog a try to see what happens. With this film I was interested from the very start as it throws up an interesting "true" story that I had never heard before. It opens well but it only manages to hang together until the middle of the film, at which point the direction of the story starts to badly waver and, with a mostly amateur cast and some clunky dialogue, it cannot do anything to really turn it around. After a while it does become dull and rather aimless which was a shame given the potential that it showed early on. The problems of narrative will probably worry Herzog's fans less than the casual viewer though but what will surprise them is how visually ordinary it all is. It all looks good and has some nice use of locations but generally it lacks imagination or the flair for the unusual, with only the out-of-place use of the crabs sticking in the mind as an image.The cast are mixed, with some good performances and some terrible ones. Ahola falls somewhere in the middle; he is not the most expressive man in the world but he has a good presence and his gentle strongman performance works for the majority – it is only in the latter stages where more is asked of him where he comes up wanting. Roth is impressive of course and he does add a much needed professionalism into the film when given the chance. The rest of the cast are mostly average at best – not a major problem but few people will defend the bland and flat deliveries of people like Gourari and Wein – both of whom come over as if they would struggle to read a traffic sign in a convincing manner.Overall this is an OK film at best – starting with potential but fading away long before the end. The performances are mostly average but what is more surprising is that Herzog doesn't really make the film his own – some of it looks interesting but it lacks the visual style that I had hoped for and it doesn't offer a great deal in its place.

cchamber This is truly one of the worst pieces of cinema it has ever been my misfortune to be exposed to. I find it quite difficult to understand how anyone can say much good about this waste of time. True: the choreography of the cabaret scenes was fine and Tim Roth gave a spirited performance, but the lack of historical accuracy, the pathetic acting, the incredible lack of interesting content, and poor writing make this a very very sad piece of work indeed. Frankly, it seems that many people feel guilty about pointing out how bad this movie is. Perhaps this is understandable, but it does not change the simple fact that this stinks on a very grand scale.