Wonderful film. Tim Roth does the best villains ever.

Somehow I missed this fiction film from Werner Herzog (along with Scream of Stone, it seems), even as I caught up on many of his documentaries from the same period. Of course, my expectations were high, but this turned out to be more conventional than much of Herzog's output. But I wanted to think otherwise. Indeed, at the start, in a small1930's Polish village, you could almost feel that you are in the same fictional space in which Herzog set The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) -- and nonprofessional actor (and full-time strongman) Jouko Ahola is not unlike a gentler less pessimistic Bruno S. If he was trying to cash in by going mainstream, Herzog didn't try very hard. Tim Roth and Udo Kier (known for weirdness) may be the only recognizable actors amongst a cast of amateurs and people with real skills (playing the piano or lifting heavy weights). But even as Herzog tackles very weighty issues (ahem), such as the rise of the Nazi's and the plight of the Jews, he seems to have misplaced his ability to raise his material to another level. True, he throws in undulating jellyfish and hordes of red crabs (the latter in a dream sequence), but these overt touches only tend to demonstrate what is lacking from the film as a whole. Nevertheless, from any other director, this would be a solid (if longish) retelling of the true story of the New Samson, a Jew who dazzled Berlin as the strongest man in the world and warned of the terrible Holocaust to come. Of course, Herzog's version might not entirely match up with the facts, but I'm okay with that.

Written and directed by Werner Herzog, this was his first feature film in a decade, he'd turned to doing documentaries after the troubled production of Scream of Stone (1991). However, he found himself doing this biopic, loosely based on the life of Jewish strongman Zishe Breitbart, although Herzog took liberties with his life, setting it a full 7 years after Breitbart had died, but that was all part of what Herzog had in mind, and it works amazingly. It begins in rural Poland in 1932, it begins with Zishe Breitbart (Jouko Ahola), who works as a blacksmith in town, but he is also fantastically strong, and his talents are spotted at a local circus, and Zishe is invited to work in Berlin by Hanussen (Tim Roth), a supposed mystic (he isn't) as part of a big cabaret show. However, the audience every night is made up of soldiers of the rising Nazi party, so Zishe is under pressure to keep his identity a secret, but his younger brother Benjamin (Jacob Benjamin Wein) convinces Zishe that he has nothing to hide. Meanwhile, Zishe tries to win the affections of pianist Marta Farra (Anna Gourari), who just so happens to be in a relationshop with Hanussen. It's a very rare and little seen Herzog film, which was little seen upon release, but it managed to be a very compelling film, and very engaging. It has shots and moments we've come to expect from Herzog, but Herzog manages to get some brilliant performances from his actors too.

Missed this on release, reportedly a mis-fire from Herzog, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Some bad casting decisions make for some scenes to lose their emotional impact, but there is a still a lot to admire here.

Not sure what to give this.....i was sat there completely blown away for a while and it five star stuff....i mean it was wow.....then it seemed to get to be a bit of a struggle and didn't keep up wowness.....Herzog is incredible though with the authenticity going on..... and the editing and cinematography at first rate.

This felt like it had much potential, but fizzled out.

Yeah, it has some flaws, like a few wooden performances here and there, but for the most part I thought this was a great movie. Really fucked up. And Tim Roth's performance was wonderful.

the factual parts of this movie are zishe existed, and zishe died from gangrene. the other, more factual parts of the movie concerned hanussen the occultist. the rest of the story was kind of barely connected links between the two major characters, who probably never met. like the story of mozart's sister, also based on fact, whatever that means, this would have made a better movie if they stuck to the actual real facts, not the far fetched story in this movie. barring the unlikely event of actually basing a movie on true facts, it would have been a much better movie if it was shorter. there was also a 'stateless' girl pianist in this story that came from someone's desire to cast a love story.

Nice story, a really shit movie doh.

Tim Roth is on the front cover. Tim Roth gets first billing. Tim Roth is a side character, and the closest thing to an antagonist. The real maincharacter is Juoko Ahola, who plays a strong blacksmith's son named Zishe. He goes to Berlin and becomes part of a show, and later rebukes his Aryan wig to stand by his people. The movie itself starts off pretty good, but it quickly loses steam as the plot develops. Tim Roth plays his boss, a wily clairvoyant named Hanussen. Roth quickly steals the spotlight whenever he can, and when he exits the picture the movie gets really placid really fast. Uneven in most parts and not a very good second half, Invincible is unconvincing. Werner Herzog has made better films.

I expected a lot more out of this movie for some reason and I have mixed feelings. I love Tim Roth and I love war/history movies, but the movie seemed silly at times. Mainly the main character - he was silly. (Also not a very good actor) Very slow at times, but you want to keep watching. Seems like it should've left me with bunch of emotions, but I felt empty. It is not special, but it is memorable.

What is with the girl and her blinking?

This film was not bad by any means. It was just boring and held no interest, for me.

Really good, weird story of a Jewish strongman in Berlin at the very beginning of Hitler's rise to power. Some of the acting is kind of amateurish, but that's typical for Herzog and it fits these characters. Tim Roth gives one of his best performances, and overall I think it's one of the director's best.

A fictional whoisit based on a real whosit stealing real life whosits and moving time periods and Nazis and what not and I have no idea where this is going. Uh. Magic of cinema and storytelling and all that jazz. The dread of fascism rising in the thirties (did that happen? In Germany? But weren't they all too busy have efficient German sex? And making chocolate?) So, like most Herzog films this could have been cut down considerably. At least 120 minutes. There's a fairly even split down the middle regarding the film crickets though. So yeah. This is mediocre Herzog, but it's still HERZOG! Has Tom Waits ever made a worthless album? Well. Maybe one. Maybe this is Werner's Heart Attack and Vine! But the crabs! Crabs! Crabs! Crabs! Roth sort of steals the show as a con man occultist whose finals words are: Gentlemen. A moment. My Cape I wish to look elegant for this excursion. And then he's shot 20 times and wild boars eat his face. Also the opening scene goes something like this: OH LOOK. IT'S A JEW. HE'S FAT. HEY JEW. WHY ARE YOU SO FAT. HEY JEW. FAT JEW. JEWEY MCJEWSTEIN. HEY. PAGING DR. WEINTRAUB. DR. JEWBLOVGAVIDG. WHAT? WHY ARE YOU SO JEWING FAT? GRRRR SMASH OH NO!

Interesting story. In purely filmmaking terms however, for a piece about a strongman - this is some pretty weak @#%$.

Maybe not the best movie, but Jouko Ahola does a great job for an athlete/strongman. Based on an inspiring true story of a Polish-Jew strongman in Pre-WWII Nazi Germany.

Based on the fact alone that Herzog wrote the script for this in 10 days, and probably busted this film out in the span of less than 2 months gives this film an automatic

A rare dud from Herzog, which suffers from meandering storytelling, a leaden, clumsy script (which sounds like a crap English language dub) and some embarassingly amateur acting. This should be an involving, even moving story, about a Jewish strongman who becomes a star in the decadent early Nazi-era music halls, later to rebel and try and warn his fellow Polish Jews of the upcoming hostility towards them, although he is dismissed by them also. I think I can see what Herzog was aiming for, going for purity of emotions through using non-professionals but a story like this seems to demand some level of acting talent at conveying it, hence why Tim Roth stands out like a sore thumb.

Inspiring, fascinating, and depressing. Herzog does not disappoint.