Invincible (Unbesiegbar)

Released 2001
Stars Tim Roth, Jouko Ahola, Anna Gourari, Max Raabe, Jacob Wein, Gustav Peter Wohler
Directed by Werner Herzog

Writer-director Werner Herzog (who wrote the script in 10 days) tells the true-life tale of Zishe Breitbart, a Jewish blacksmith of immense strength who won brief fame in 1930s Berlin as a cabaret attraction. When Breitbart (real-life weightlifter Jouko Ahola) is discovered working in a Jewish village in eastern Poland, Erik-Jan Hanussen (Tim Roth), a bogus hypnotist and clairvoyant, persuades him to perform in Nazi Germany.

Summary from www.netflix.com

I'm sure there's a story to tell about Zishe Breitbart, but this movie doesn't find it. Herzog chose to create a quasi-fable with a lot of symbolism that just doesn't work. Its biggest problem is it lacks passion or emotion of any kind. Newcomer Jouko Ahola is like a rock. While that's good physically, it's terrible emotionally. His character needed to have some reaction to Hanussen's abuse of Marta, but until the end he simply watches without reacting. Finally, at the end, all he can do is stiffly lift Hanussen above his head and gently set him back down. There had to be more emotion to this story to make us see Zishe as something more than a symbolic figure. --Bill Alward, October 15, 2003