Movie Review - The Invisibles

The Invisibles **** (NR) A little-known story from World War II is the fact that 7,000 Jews managed to avoid exile to concentration camps, hiding in Berlin for several years with the help of sympathetic Germans, who took on serious risks to their own families in doing what they thought was right. About 1700 lived to the end of the war. This powerful docudrama tells the tale well through the recollections of four survivors, interspersed with re-enactments of their ordeals.

Their journeys were quite different. Some mostly hid; others passed publicly as Gentiles; some actively opposed the Nazis and helped others escape with forged papers; all had to scramble from one haven to another, or live on the streets when the Gestapo got too close to their home of the moment. The live action is compelling partly on its own for the omnipresent dangers of discovery, and doubt as to whom anyone could trust. Getting the narrative from those who lived through what we’re watching makes the experience far more meaningful. Even knowing that our protagonists will survive, the suspense of how they managed, and what collateral damage may occur along the way, delivers all the dramatic tension one would seek from historical fiction.

Hardcore Holocaust deniers probably won’t change their beliefs because of this, or any other, film. But movies like this and Schindler’s List serve a vital purpose in keeping others from believing their propaganda, while honoring those courageous non-Jews who valued morality and justice over political zealotry by sticking to their principles, despite the possible consequences. (2/15/19)