Synopsis

Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog continues his cinematic exploration of the human soul with this true story of a simple man who is transported from his humble village roots to the giddy excesses of the 1930s Berlin and finds himself becoming the new Samson to protect the Jewish people.
At the end of the 1920s, Zishe Breitbart (Jouko Ahola), a young impoverished Jewish blacksmith from a shtetl in eastern Poland, becomes a popular sensation as the "strongest man in the world." Discovered by a talent scout, he leaves his hometown for the bright lights of 1930s Berlin to perform in a vaudeville show. The underdog, he is seen by the Jews as a hero. At the same time, Breitbart antagonizes the Nazis, who are rising in power, who cannot accept a Jew with such physical and spiritual strength.
Soon he finds himself in deep conflict with his employer, Erik Jan Hanussen (Tim Roth) who poses as a clairvoyant and dreams of establishing an all-powerful Ministry of the Occult in Hitler’s government. Once it is discovered that Hanussen’s real name is Herschel Steinschneider, a Jew in disguise as a Danish nobleman, he is abducted and murdered by Nazis.
As Hitler’s hold on power grows and Berlin erupts in a ferment of anti-Semitism, Breitbart takes counsel from a local rabbi and becomes convinced that he has been chosen by God to warn his people of the grave danger to come. He returns to his homeland and preaches to young men to become strong like himself in order to protect the Jewish people against Nazi persecution.
Undefeated and invincible - and only two days before Hitler takes power - he succumbs to a mere scratch from a rusty nail he’s driven through a wooden log with a single blow of his fist. Obsessed with his mission, he ignores the developing blood-poison. Within a few weeks, and after many operations, he dies on a cold, winter day in January 1933.
His legend lives on in folk songs, stories and ballads.

DVD Release: June 3, 2003

Directed by: Werner Herzog
Starring: Jouko Ahola, Tim Roth