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.
