Invincible (2001 Film) - Plot

Plot

Siegmund Breitbart (Jouko Ahola) is the son of an Orthodox Jewish blacksmith in rural Poland. He is fantastically strong, largely from working at hard labor all day. A talent agent sees how strong Breitbart is in his Jewish shtetl home and convinces him to move to Berlin where he can find work as a strongman.

Hanussen (Tim Roth), an epic con-man and supposed mystic, runs a cabaret variety show. Hanussen gives Breitbart a blonde wig and a Nordic helmet and calls him "Ziegfried" so as to identify him with the Aryan notion of physical superiority. This appeals to the largely Nazi clientele, and he is a big hit.

This is a dark comedy but is as much so a deeply dramatic story, involving the mainly secular Jews of Berlin. Included is interaction between Breitbart, an attractive stage musician Marta, their boss who abuses her Hanussen and some very top level Nazis. Ultimately Breitbart becomes disgusted and dismayed.

A visit from Breitbart's young brother, Benjamin (Jacob Benjamin Wein), convinces Breitbart to be proud of his Jewish heritage, and so, without warning, he takes off the blonde wig in the middle of his act and announces that he is not an "Aryan" and calls himself a new Jewish Samson. This has the effect of making him a hero to the local Jews who flock to the cabaret to see their new Samson. The Nazis aren't as pleased, and Hanussen tries to discredit Breitbart. He tries to make it seem that it was his mystic powers that were the true strength behind the strongman, and makes it look like even his frail female pianist Marta can break chains and lift weights if under his power.

Hanussen knows the Nazis dabble in the occult and hopes to become a part of Hitler's future government. Therefore, he hobnobs with the likes of Himmler and Goebbels. In the end, however, he is exposed as a Czech Jewish con artist named Herschel Steinschneider. As a result, Hanussen is kidnapped and murdered by the Brownshirts. Breitbart foresees what will become known as the Holocaust and returns to Poland to warn the Jewish people of its coming. Unfortunately, no one believes him and he accidentally dies from an infected wound, according to the final titles, two days before Hitler takes power in 1933. In the final scene he is in a delirium as a result of the infection. In a moving vision he sees his younger brother Benjamin flying safely away from the looming Holocaust.