Hitler’s plan is to have the Jews disappear from the face of the Earth. 1,700 Jews living in Berlin managed to survive and stay hidden from anything that was a threat to them. This film tells the story of only four of them.
Blaine: What’s interesting about “The Invisibles” is not just learning about how these Jewish people avoided every danger in Berlin, but this is a mixture of documentary and feature film. Documentaries usually have old footage and photographs to go with the story as a person is giving narration, but for this the director chose to use actors to act out the past. The four Jews who lived through this experience tell their stories as they are being interviewed and actors act it out as it is showing the past.
Claus Rafle was already planning to put together a documentary about a Jewish surviver living in a dangerous area in Berlin, and as he was doing the research it led him to something else. Claus was learning that there were more Jew survivors. First there was one, then there were four and next thing you know it was 1,700. There was Jews who were positive they wanted to live, and wouldn’t let anyone who was evil force them into a dark fate. It was unbelievable for Claus and really impressive too. He decided to make a documentary on this instead.
Claus had an idea about making this both a documentary and a feature film as one. This is something probably no one has ever done before in the history of cinema. His reason for wanting to do that was so that the story could have more feeling to it. Claus knew it was an unusual choice to mix two different things together and there was also the question on how to make it work, but he managed to figure it out and make it look perfect.
1,700 is a huge number. It would take forever for one man to get every single story and it would also be very exhausting, which is why Claus only chose to tell four stories.
Claus spent eight years putting “The Invisibles” together. He started off by interviewing the people this film is about, and not just listening to the stories, but filming them in front of a camera. There was no script until after Claus got each story. In 2016, Claus shot the scenes with the actors and it only took a month to do it.
The Jews in this film didn’t know each other. Each one survived in their own way. As the film goes on, each person gets their turn at telling their story and it goes back and forth between each person. But it’s not just the survivors telling the story, the actors are telling it as well. Everyone is taking turns at telling stories. The scene will focus on the Jew being interviewed and the actors will take over when it cuts to the past.
One of the four Jews mentioned that Nazis thought Jews are the cause of all that is evil in the world. How ridiculous is that? Clearly the Nazis are blind to not see they’re the evil ones. A lot of things Hitler said weren’t true, like Jews being responsible for the Titanic sinking. Shows that the Nazis were not only cruel, but their heads were full of nonsense. Hitler and his Nazis are stupid enough to think killing Jews will make the world a better place and burning books is a good idea. It’s a good thing they were stupid enough to not know the Jews were still living amongst them in Germany. As a matter of fact those Jews outsmarted Hitler. A lot of Jews were horribly taken away and burned to ash, but the rest weren’t going anywhere. Hitler thought he owned the country, but it was everyone’s country, including the Jews. It’s also nice that not everyone in Germany was a racist. Good will always overcome evil. There’s no brutality in “The Invisibles” because none of these survivors witnessed that.
Germany looks nice and tidy when you see it. I guess the Nazis wanted to keep things neat in their country. They had no problem making a mess in other countries like Poland. But it’s still dangerous to be on the streets of Berlin if you’re a Jew.
Cioma Schonhaus managed to find a way out from being deported to Auschwitz by saying he was an employee for a munitions factory. His parents couldn’t get out though, but all that mattered to them was their son would be safe. Cioma then worked on falsified passports. He had skills in graphic design. There’s a scene where Cioma re-organizes his desk to make it look like he was doing something else the way an undercover spy would.
It was hard for every Jew to get a hiding place that could stay permanent. They were always going from one place to another because someone would suspect something or trouble would show up. They could always depend on friends to help them.
For Eugen Friede, each place he hid at wouldn’t last. He stayed indoors a lot because it was too dangerous for him to be seen. It wasn’t all that bad though. One of the places Eugen stayed at gave him a little bit of romance with a woman named Ruth. There’s two women with the same name Ruth in this movie. Ruth liked Eugen from the first moment she met him. It’s written all over her face that she is really into him. Eugen feels something too. It’s almost like love at first sight for them. It’s hard for them not to look at each other. Eugen has never seen a more friendly face than Ruth’s. Ruth is the type of person who is all smiles. Eugen feels right at home, but alas he can’t stay. Someone knows Ruth’s family is hiding someone suspicious inside their home. So Eugen had to find a new place to stay at and just as his romantic relationship with Ruth was coming to a start. She could have gone with him though.
My dad told me a lot of Jews don’t have blond hair and I didn’t know that until we saw “The Invisibles”. Hanni Levy dyed her hair to help cover her identity. It would be her disguise and no one suspected her of being a Jew. She still had to be careful though. Even though she changed her looks, still she didn’t want people to see what she really was.
Hanni felt she was the only Jew in hiding. She knew she wasn’t alone in the world because she had close friends to give her shelter, but she believed she was the only Jew surviving in Germany. Ruth Arndt knew there was other Jews out there because she always found herself in a group of Jews. She would part from her family, then fate reunited her with them. During that time, Ruth had her friend Ellen, her surviving buddy. They would stick together like glue.
A lot of Jews, like Eugen, wanted to stay away from the outside world, but others didn’t want to stay in a room all day. They wanted to get out, even though there was danger outside. The Jews managed to think of a lot of things. Ruth and Ellen would cover their faces pretending to be widows who lost their men to the war. A lot of women would do that.
Like I said, the four main Jews of this film didn’t know each other, but there are a few things that connect them. Werner was a Jew who worked with Cioma, until he was caught and sent to a death camp where he experienced the horrors that go on to Jews. Werner managed to escape with two other prisoners and they found their way to the same place Eugen Friede was staying at.
Another thing is Stella Goldschlag. Stella knows both Cioma and Ellen because she went to school with them. Stella is Jewish too and she is collaborating with secret police of Nazi Germany called Gestapo. She would expose Jews who were in hiding. Judging by the looks of it Stella is the type who would turn you in. There were a lot of squealers living in Germany. The Germans who hid Jews had to be careful around the neighbors because they would rat them out in a second. They were suspicious at times. Stella recognized Ellen as she and Ruth were walking by. Ellen knew better but to pretend she didn’t know Stella. As for Cioma, there was no way he could get out of his situation with Stella. She gets a clear look at his face and there’s no fooling her. Cioma had a crush on Stella growing up, but she was out of his league and even he knew he could never get a girl like her. I was concerned for Cioma. I felt Stella might be using her seductive powers just to lure him into a trap, but nothing happens. Stella cares for Cioma’s safety. She must have cared for him.
Director Claus Rafle said the Jews liked going to the theater because it was comfortable in there. It was warm, the seats were soft to sit on, and it was dark so no one would be able to see your face. Hanni would spend a lot of her time in the theater because it was the only place she could find comfort. Hanni looks like she hasn’t gotten much sleep. Every time she tries to rest in an area there was always someone ruining the moment and she had to leave. There’s trouble everywhere for her.
A gentleman is aware Hanni has been spending a lot of time at the theater and figures out she is a Jew, but it’s no problem because he’s not a Jew hater. He has to go off to war and his father is dying. He offers Hanni a place to stay as long as she keeps his mother, Viktoria, company. Hanni has finally found a place to settle down and relax peacefully. She also becomes very close with Viktoria as if she is her own mother. Hanni herself said that her relationship with Viktoria was a mother daughter thing.
Cioma was lucky enough to find shelter and get a job he was good at, but that luck was starting to run out. A co-worker of his was being a dick by burning his stuff. He even burned all 20 of the passports Cioma worked on, and those were both very important and took hours of work. Then Cioma accidentally left his bag, which held all of his information, on the bus and became a wanted man. He was having hard luck. The only luck that remained was not getting caught and not ending up dead.
You’re probably asking yourself “If these Jews were able to hide their identities then why not leave the country and go some place safer?” Who knows. Cioma Schonhaus, he did leave Germany to cross the border to Switzerland. He had just about enough.
The war was over and the Jews didn’t have to hide anymore. They covered up their identities and pretended to be someone else, but now they have to get their real identities back in order to prove to the Red Cross soldiers they are what they say they are, Jewish.
The Red Cross soldiers were very pissed with what the Nazis did to the Jews. Jews were being rounded up and sent to concentration or death camps, but now it is the Nazis who are being rounded up and the Jews are free. No Jew would be held prisoner by a Red Cross soldier.
The Red Cross soldiers didn’t believe Hanni when she told them she is Jewish. Hanni didn’t know what proof she could give to Red Cross soldiers. She and Viktoria didn’t want to stick around, so they left. Hanni was on the move once again, but she didn’t have to do it alone this time. Hanni lived the rest of her life in Paris, but what became of her friend Viktoria? My guess is Hanni and Viktoria sticked together for a while because that’s what it looked like at the end of her story. There’s no telling what became of Viktoria's son either. Claus Rafle said there’s people in this movie who’s fate is a mystery. The main thing is we know what became of Cioma Schohaus, Hanni Levy, Eugen Friede and Ruth Arndt because this film is all about them.
My rating on “The Invisibles” is five out of five stars
