Interesting film telling the story of these terrible times from another perspective, with the heroes being the German people who risked their lives to help many young Jews hide underground in World War 2

One reviewer here asks how much more drama can be "squeezed" from this "event". I would answer an infinite amount. There will never be too much that can be said or portrayed about the largest act of genocide, torture and madness. To the already copious number of films on the subject, comes The Invisibles, a docudrama, so labeled with names of the two genres that combine successfully to make up this film. I thought the combination worked extremely well. Having the actual photographic footage of Berlin during the war gave the film an aura of authenticity that enhanced it. Also, the interviewing of the survivors, combined with enactments of what they were reporting, also worked extremely well. In fact, seeing and listening to them made watching the film more bearable for me as I knew they avoided the horrific fate that most of their compatriots didn't. The only reason I rated The Invisibles a 9 and not a 10 was because in a couple of instances I experienced some confusion, mainly about who was who. I think there could have been a bit more clarity in this area. Other than that, the world now has another documentation of something that you'd think happens only in nightmares.

"Die Unsichtbaren" or "The Invisibles" is a German 110-minute movie from this year (2017). This award-nominated feature is the first theatrical release after a lot of small screen work for writer and director Claus Räfle and he shows us here that he absolutely ready for the transition. It's an ensemble cast we got here that includes many fairly young German actors. The most known is probably one of the older ones already, namely Florian Lukas, even if he does not play one of the very central characters this time. You can check out the cast list for yourself otherwise. Let me just add that the females were all fairly stunning, especially Schulz, Dwyer and Fee.

Now about the film itself: It never dragged and that is a really positive achievement for a film closer to two hours than to 1.5 hours. I myself would really call it a documentary because honestly the interviews with the contemporary witnesses are the heart and soul of it all and seeing how sadly half of them died already now shows us how long Räfle worked on this project. The scenes with actors we see are really only reenactments basically from what really happened in the memory of these Holocaust survivors. But they still feel incredibly authentic and I totally liked the approach there. I am generally a fan of chronological narration and that helped here too for me personally. The film never felt that it lacked focus, even if it kept jumping from one character to the next frequently and that also is an example of quality execution. Mauff I am generally not a great fan of, but he was as good as the rest. There were some really tense situations in here that will have you at the edge of your seat and this film once again shows how reality truly tells the most gripping stories. The fact that we know right away they will survive does not take away anything from the quality. On the contrary, it should still make us aware of the many who weren't as lucky back then.

The overall idea was already a well thought-through premise. What is up with these Jews who did not leave the country in time, who were not arrested or executed. Here we see what happened to some of them. How they changed their hair colors, how they hid thanks to helpers (even among the Nazis) or how they just tried to go on with their lives as normally as they could. I think there were many really interesting moments, like the one when he says that young men were not seen anymore without a uniform and what made him an obvious target. I also liked how the film showed us there were good Nazis too hiding Jews, that there were "bad" Jews too helping Nazis to arrest their own etc. The attention to detail came all naturally thanks to the interviewees precise descriptions of certain scenarios and situations. Overall, this was a really well-executed movie that is almost a must-see for everyone with an interest in that specific period from history. It shows us that even with the hundreds, if not thousands, of films made about this era in history, about Nazis, Jews, the Holocaust etc. it is still very possible to bring something new to the table and that we have a responsibility to make films like this one and distribute them too as long as we still have these contemporary witnesses alive. You can watch stuff like "Das Pubertier" or the newest Schweighöfer movie and become dumber by the second or you can do yourself a favor and watch intelligent and important and touching works like this one here. Without a doubt, one of Germany's finest from 2017. I forgive them for the slightly over-the-top melodramatic title addition "Wir wollen leben". This was a brilliant 110 minutes. Highly recommended.