Invincible [DVD]

This DVD offers Werner Herzog's would-be comeback movie in its English-language version, although it actually appears to have been shot in English as per most of the bigger budget European films. The film found little favor either with critics or at the box-office, but it still has much to commend it.

Although a significant supporting character rather than the titular lead, it's a far more accurate portrait of famed German psychic-showman-conman Erik Jan Hanussen, the 'prophet' of the Nazi Party, than Istvan Szabo's Hanussen which, like Colonel Redl, took ample liberties with the facts to make dramatic capitol albeit with less success. Herzog's film has its historical failings to - in truth Hanussen's downfall was linked to his prediction of the Reichstag Fire and the large number of IOUs senior he collected from senior Nazi Party members, including Goebbels and Himmler. But by linking his fate to that of the Jewish strongman he promotes as the Aryan Siegfried (in real life the two men were professional rivals), Herzog does offer a convincing portrait of the dilemma facing Jews in the early days of Nazi Germany: do you hide and assimilate to earn their approval or do you assert your identity all the stronger?

For Hanussen, the answer is to latch onto the rising star of the Nazi Party in the hope that money and power can insulate him (and in truth he was Hitler's personal clairvoyant and, shortly before he was exposed as a Jew by the communist press, in line to head the Nazi Ministry of the Occult: Hanussen privately wrote that he thought Nazi anti-Semitism was mere electioneering and that Hitler could be swayed by 'good Jews'). Ultimately he fails because underestimates the savagery and severity of the baser instincts he taps into. For the innocent strongman Zishe Breitbart, things are not so simple. As he awakens to the danger and rebels, he finds himself unable to rouse his people and is ultimately brought down by little more than a scratch. Both find themselves unable to control events, merely to predict the inevitable outcome of the terrible movement of history that will allow neither assimilation nor resistance.

It's great raw material, but it's never quite there. As a film it's intriguing and Hanussen's stage act is compellingly recreated through Tim Roth's unsympathetic playing (unlike Brandauer and Szabo's version, this Hanussen is ultimately a cruel victim of his own hubris and self-deception), but Jouko Ahola is not a strong enough pair of acting shoulders as Zishe - he may be able to carry an elephant, but he can't carry the movie. His performance isn't especially bad and it's probably an accurate reflection of the real man, but there's a lack of star quality that enables Roth to walk away with the film and for his absence in the last quarter to add not just an air of futility but of 'Where do we go from here?' padding to it.

Some of the early Shtetl scenes are a little awkwardly paced, the fledgling romance doesn't really work and the script is over-reliant on the audience bringing pre-existing knowledge about the characters to the film (for example, it is never explained that Udo Kier's Count Helldorf was the infamously corrupt and perverted head of the Berlin SA who ultimately murdered Hanussen) so a non-German or less-informed audience will definitely get less out of the film. There's also a lack of context - we see very little of what is happening on the streets with much of the action confined to Hanussen's lavishly recreated Palace of the Occult. But despite its shortfalls, it's still an intriguing film that, while it never engages the emotions, has more than enough compensations to make it well worth catching.

If you know much about Werner Herzog, you know over-analysis is not his game. I have a LOT of time for the work of Werner, although a few of his films have yet to interest me. However, I thought this was a very, very beautifully made and acted film ten years ago, and still do. Try and see it for yourself, I guess you can always send it back if you don't like it. I had to buy an expensive import DVD of it years ago, so it's good to see it getting a re-release.

(Review based on watching it in UK on Film 4)

This film tells an adapted story of the real 1920's polish strongman Zishe (Siegmund) Breitbart. The story is set in 1932 and follows the Blacksmith's move to becoming a strong man performer in Berlin. Being Jewish you can see the hazards that could be coming. He works at the theatre for Tim Roth, the master of the occult, as an implied example of the Arian race and performs various feats of strength in front of the Germans (both Jewish and Nazi). Seeing were this will go is interesting.

The costume and setting feels believable but the overall story is told at a slow pace and it mostly and fails to draw you in as well as it should. I think this is the fault of the script, acting and even the cinematography which feel a bit flaky.

Tim Roth is excellent as you might imagine but Jouko Ahola (a finish strong man) does his best but, bar his smile, his delivery just isn't convincing enough and makes the character seem a not too cleaver. If this was the aim, contrasting with his slim intelligent younger brother, it still didn't really work. There are some interesting perspective and a 'nice' twist but this is a two hours plus film that plods along for large periods.

I was interested in the story and but just thought it was badly told. A quick look on the internet show's much of the interest wasn't true which undermines the film further. Zeshe was involved in politics/nations but of a different sort and he died in 1925.

To be honest I'd give this film a miss unless you're a Tim Roth fan like me, but even then it was hard going. Its an interesting idea of story but not put together that well. They'd have been better making a truer account of Zishe life or a completely fictional account that could have been more dramatic and thought provoking and just a lot better.

Edit: I see from the other review that Tim Roth character, Erik Hanussen, was real and his events mirror the real ones more closely. I can see why they included Zishe for contrast but I think another option to make the film better would have been to focus on Hanussen's story. Tim Roth may be given as the star performer but it's Zishe we follow and see much more of in the film.