Invincible
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Movie Reviews of Invincible
Movie Review: Sturdy Film, Not Herzog's Finest
Summary: 4 Stars
Invincible is like its main character, sturdy and a little slow. Although a very good film, it's not one of director Werner Herzog's better efforts, as the film tends to stay at a stolid pace throughout. Because Herzog is incapable of making a bad film, it still garners 4 stars because it's an intriguing look at the brewing storm that was Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, and the terrible consequences to the Jewish community of Europe.Movie Review: Questions of identity and assimilation in Herzog's near-miss
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw Werner Herzog's would-be comeback movie in it's 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 it's 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 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 it's 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.
Movie Review: Great story and Script, but the acting ?????
Summary: 3 Stars
I was a bit confused at the start of this film when I thought I detected what sounded a bit like a Swedish accent by a Jew living in a Polish schtetle who was being idealistically lectured by a suspiciously non grizzly looking blond hair little boy with a bit of a Brittish accent. - - Though the story is great, throughout the film its apparent that Herzog may have gotten a bit carried away with his genius as a director as if almost to say, "I'm such a great director, I could take anybody and make them look like great actors... !" - - uhhhhhh, not so. - - Likewise, maybe he thought that by having real people, the film would have a more realistic feel ? - - Though Tim Roth gives an OUTSTANDING performance (the evil of his charactor gushes through) and a few other actors as well, one begins to wonder through the film "What's going on here ?" - - Keep in mind, I saw the film without realizing it was a Herzog film, so I was wondering if maybe it was a good film but a director who... well, just wasn't quite there yet, but still, had a good story to tell. - - Still, scenes that should have been climatic (The Jewish Samson announcing before a room of Nazis that he was indeed a Jew) and others, turned out to be... drab, whereas others (virtually any scene that Roth appeared in) were full of passion and energy in comparison. - - The end result, I felt the true significance of Zeisha's charactor was lost... If you read his actual biography, you find out that he became a mythical folk hero to the Jews of Europe... he wasn't just an unintentional symbol, but called himself the Jewish Samson and lectured avidely on behalf of the then budding Zionist movement. In contrast, his charactor in the film doesn't seem to be the shapest knife in the drawer. - - In the film, though a hero to the Jews of Germany, when he returns to the Schtetles (where the real Zisha was a true folk hero) he's made into a virtual laughing stock with his predictions as to the rise of Nazism. (*And is it just me, or do some of those beards look rather fake...?) - - Not to spoil the end of the film if you haven't seen it, I'll only say that the real Zeisha died in 1925 from blood poisining as a result of an injury from a stage stunt. All in all... great story... Werner Herzog, despite being a great film director might have done better to hire professionals... because virtually every element of the film BUT the acting reflects his greatness... unfortunately wouldn't one expect a director of Herzog's callibre to realize that acting... ummmm... does count...
Movie Review: Strong story, weak movie
Summary: 3 Stars
You would think a movie telling the story of an exceptionally strong Polish Jewish blacksmith travleing to Berlin to perform feats that impress Jews and offend Nazis in a 1930s theatre of the occult would be inspiring, touching or at least interesting. This movie is none of these. The camera angles and cuts confuse and distract. The music, though beautiful, interrupts too many scenes with the same repetetive strains. The scenes in the theatre give a good feel for the entertainment of the time, but do we really need to see two full dance numbers? They're not bad, but they drag and have no point, like much of the movie. Tim Roth's spooky opportunist and Jouko Ahola's "Jewish Samson" and a few other actors' supporting characters seem authentic, but many actors fall victim to the contrived, obvious and overly-philosophical dialogue. Watching Marta, the love interest, overdramatically play the piano as if she's about to faint with every note is hideously tedious. The blacksmith Zishe's younger brother has some of the best lines of the movie, but muddles through them, seeming confused and losing the viewers. Sure, he's a ten-year-old kid, but shouldn't we expect more after children's performances in The Piano and Sixth Sense?How could such a lovely and incredible story be such a flat movie? How could this story end the way it does (I won't give it away) and foreshadow the horror we all know without me feeling anything?
This is one story I hope gets a cinematic remake.
Movie Review: This is not the same Herzog...
Summary: 3 Stars
If you are an admirer of Herzog's great films (Aguirre, Heart of Glass, Nosferatu, Fitzcaraldo) I would like to caution you against this one - that is kind of a Hollywood picture (though it is pretty good for Hollywood standards). It lacks the experimentation of other Herzog films - and is shot in a very unlike Herzog way - this is the first Herzog film that really feels like a film - like it is on a set instead of in the wilderness or in a seemless period cottage. I do not think this is a bad movie - but a bad example of Herzog...