Invincibile

The great Werner Herzog uses grandly designed set pieces to deliver a foreboding period piece about the nature of facism in pre-WW2 Berlin. The focus of the story revolves around the opposing philosophies of the sinister, renowned clairvoyant Hanussen, and one of his performers, a naive strongman, lured off the farm to make his fortune in the big city. Needless to say, both of these powerful characters provide the symbolic thrust of Herzog's visionary statement, and he presents them as extreme opposites. Roth really delivers as a refined cynic, while real-life strongman Ahola is a childlike brute, an amateur hero challenging the authority of a professional villain. While parts of the picture are heavy-handed and obvious, it has a refreshing, unsentimental neutrality about it's subject matter, and it's mise-en-scene pleasures are many. My favorite scene follows our hero on his way to Berlin: he's picked up by a couple of farmers, one of them unable to control wild outbursts of laughter as he listens to the naive strongman tell about his dreams. A worthy film in the Herzog repertoire and interesting enough even for non-enthusiasts.

This is a film about a Jewish young man who witnessed the hatred and discrimination towards the Jews by the German Nazis before the Second World War.

I found the first half of the film boring. It was slow, and there was not much to offer. The scenes were not emotional, and lack climax. The acting was bad too, as the actors lacked emotion. It only plainly told the viewers what happened in Berlin's entertainment shows. Zishe was indeed very strong, and the film concentrated on this aspect. The director filmed many shots of Zishe lifting very heavy weights, bending metal object etc. However, all these displays become like a bodybuilding show.

The second half of the movie was more pleasant to watch. Zishe saw the Nazis starting to harm the Jews, and he urged the Jews to leave Germany. However, no one believed him. In this latter half, there are more scenes which makes people think. For example, there was a scene which Zishe walked among an island full of red crabs. I think it means that the Jews were like the red crabs, they could not escape from the island.

In the end, Zishe died of an infection caused by a wound in the leg. His death was two days before the Second World War. I think the directors want to carry a secret message here. As Zishe was the hero among the Jewish population in Germany, his death means that even the strongest Jew could die. Without Zishe the Jewish population became vulnerable. Then two days after that, extermination of the Jews began. Overall, I think this film is thought provoking, but the acting is not good. The actors and actresses showed no emotion, and the story is not convincing.

Werner Herzog's Invincible tells the story of a Polish blacksmith in Nazi Germany who in his provincial integrity thinks he can protect his people after becoming the star at the Palace of the Occult in Berlin, which is overseen by a sinister man who dreams of becoming the Nazis' Minister of the Occult. Much of the movie's uncanny appeal comes from the contrast between the simple-mindedly innocent blacksmith-come-strongman and Tim Roth's wicked Hanussen, who trickles with studied malice. Standing between them is a young woman under Hanussen's mental force, who the strongman loves. The movie is supposedly based on a true story. I can conceive of various ways it could've been told unspectacularly, but Herzog has turned it into a movie in which we mostly have no clue what could possibly happen next.

The movie has the evocativeness of a German silent film, bold in its expressionism and moralistic insistence. Its casting is critical, and intuitively right. Tim Roth is a menacing deceiver, posing as a man with extrasensory abilities, using hocus-pocus and theatrics as he hustles for position within the rising Nazi majority. There's a scene where he hypnotizes the strongman's love interest, and as he stares dauntlessly toward us, I wondered if it was feasible to hypnotize us as well. As for the untrained actor playing the strongman, the camera can look as closely as you like and never see anything insincere.

Herzog always works to push us into the mythic and the mysterious. And here, there are shots of a stark, craggy seashore where the stones are covered with thousands of bright red crabs, all clambering away on their crustaceous errands. As with similar imagery in most of Herzog's other films, there can be no exact interpretation of this. And like most of his other films, Invincible is a unique experience. Herzog has gotten outside the tropes and confines of conventional movie storytelling, and confronts us where our sense of trust and belief keeps its skeletons.

Invincible (Werner Herzog).

Set in the years before WWII, a simpleton cum Jewish Pole strong man, was recruited by a German mystic cum showman, who's intent on dressing him up into Aryan legends, to perform legendary feats of strength on a hybrid cabaret-like show for Nazis patrons?

I wouldn't believe it either, but its supposedly inspired by a true story. Thank god for the inspiration of mad geniuses!

I laughed so hard at the first few chapters of this movie, its embarassing. But I regretted my rash reaction by film's midpoint. For what was deemed funny early on (weird mix of acting styles, idiosyncratic dramatic developments, and outlandishly funny English accents etc), got into me like second skin. And I realised by some point, I have seen one of the most oddly "moving" films in recent memory.

Two words, child-like innocence (or was it three?). Whatever. This flick me liked and it comes with my highest recommendation. Watch it, and learn.

Next up, Herzog's Heart of Glass.....

Werner Herzog has always been one of my favorite filmmakers and it was hard to keep up with him when I joined the military so this was the first film of his I have seen in a theater since "Fitzcarraldo". I did like this film but its clearly not one of his best. As I watched this film I could not help but think of the other actors Herzog has used in the past and how they could be cast in this film. Of course Tim Roth would have had Klaus Kinski in his role. Eva Mattes would be Marta who's played by Anna Gourari and how many times has Herzog used a non actor in the lead? The cinematography is terrific and the period is beautifully detailed. The music is by Hans Zimmer and he is a legend but his score doesn't evoke the same haunting sounds that Popol Vuh did. I didn't mind the fact that Jouko Ahola as Zishe cannot act. He really isn't suppose to. Herzog is going for a more realistic response to the complexities of what is going on around him. Herzog has done this before with Bruno S. Tim Roth is excellent and I also liked the charm of Anna Gourari. And its always good to see Udo Kier! This film is certainly not up to "Aguirre" or "Nosferatu" or "Fitzcarraldo" but it is better than "Kaspar Hauser". Not great but its pure Herzog.