"Invincible" purports to be the story of Zishe Breitbart, a Jewish man who made his living entertaining folks through feats of super-human strength. And, I enjoyed it very much, as the film was well acted (especially Tim Roth--who was wonderfully hateful) and the story was quite interesting. However, being an ex-history teacher, I did what I normally do when I watch biographies or historical films--I did some digging to find out about the REAL Breitbart...and was very disappointed. Let me explain...the film purports to be about a Jew who managed to thrive in pre-WWII Berlin despite the strong climate of antisemitism. It shows Breitbart arriving in the city from Poland JUST BEFORE the Nazis came to power in 1933. And, in the epilogue, the film states that Breitbart died JUST before this Nazi takeover. However, Breitbard died in 1925--when the Nazis were an insignificant force in Germany--particularly in areas outside Bavaria. There was no cabaret filled with jack-booted Nazis watching him perform and it is highly doubtful that Breitbart returned to Poland to warn them of the pending Nazi menace. And, he did NOT die in Poland but in Germany.The bottom line is that the film is all about the Nazis and antisemitism. But, this just wasn't the case and, sadly, tends to diminish Breitbart's life. Why not just tell it like it really was?!

It is really a great disappointment to see such an interesting director as Werner Herzog doing such a conventional and uninteresting film.The story is set in Poland and Berlin in the year before the Nazis ascended to power in Germany. Zisa, a Jewish strongman from Poland goes to Berlin and becomes involved in the cabaret shows of magician and fortune teller Hanusse, first playing the role of an 'aryan' here and then as a new Jewish 'Samson'. Unfortunately this allegedly true story is treated in the most conventional and stereotype way one could imagine, without any dramatic tension, character development or historical revelation. Poland's Jewish shtetl is idealized as in some Shalom Alechem inspired story without the charm of Shalom Alechem. Berlin between the two wars lacks the fascination and spark of many good movies that dealt with th etime and place and is populated by operetta villains Nazis. Hanussen is a fascinating character, but here he is uni-dimensional and makes us long for the mysterious and complex view we got from him in Istvan Szabo's 'Hanussen'. Moreover history is twisted, Hanussen is killed in the movie in 1932, while in reality he was assassinated in 1933 a few weeks after the Nazis came to power. Some dream scenes haunt the hero during the movie but they do not succeed to transmit any emotion or message.If Herzog had made this film at the beginning of his career I would have doubted his talent. Having done as a mature director, after he already proved what a fine director he can be is really the only mystery around this movie.

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.

Let me first state that I ended up enjoying this movie more than I thought I would. Also, Tim Roth's acting simply makes this movie. The strongman's acting actually improves as the movie goes on but is still mediocre at best. This is probably no fault of his, but his inexperience is really obvious when acting besides Roth. The proto-Nazis are easy to hate, which is fine by me, but again, the best scenes are the stage scenes with Rothman--he really sells the spiritualism angle of the movie. His discovery of being a Jew near the end of the movie is not fact-based, apparently, it was not a well-kept secret, but it moves the movie along, and makes Hannussen seem like a hypocrite of the first order.