Stroszek (1977)

Simply Perfect

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"Stroszek" will potentially depress the hell out of you unless you happen to find Werner Herzog's brand of off-beat filmmaking amusing. I do mostly, and therefore wasn't tempted to jump off a bridge at the end of this movie, but I don't know that I'd go as far as to say it's "riotously funny," as its marketing poster suggests."Stroszek" tells the fictional story of a real man named Bruno Stroszek. In other words, Stroszek plays himself in this eccentric film about a man who's released from prison, meets back up with his girlfriend and elderly buddy, and takes off for the fabled lands of....Wisconsin....to pursue the American dream. Anyone who's actually been to Wisconsin can probably guess how things play out for three immigrants with about three dollars between them. What follows is a series of vignettes that place Bruno in increasingly desperate straits and ends in an ambiguous finale that involves a ski lift and dancing chickens.Welcome to the world of Werner Herzog, folks. "Stroszek" is not as compelling as some of Herzog's best, but it does inspire a sort of morbid fascination, if only because we take comfort that our situation isn't as bad as the one our characters find themselves in. But lest you are tempted to feel too sorry for Stroszek, he, like many of Herzog's protagonists, staunchly refuses to beg for sympathy, and faces one hardship after another with the dogged determination of a man who never fully understands how humble is his lot.Grade: A-

"Stroszek" may be Werner Herzog's greatest masterpiece. it's certainly his most humane picture and in casting non-actor Bruno S in the title role he gets so close to the feeling of raw truth we may as well be watching a picture of Bruno S's life, (something he also achieved in "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" where Bruno S's performance as Hauser totally transcended acting to become the character). Here he simply becomes Stroszek just as Eva Mattes becomes Eva and Clemens Scheitz becomes Scheitz. Herzog transports them from Germany to America where Stroszek gets a dead-end job in the garage of Scheitz's nephew and Eva becomes a waitress, (in Berlin she turned tricks to earn the money for their trip and doesn't appear too anxious to give up that line of work).Nothing conventional happens but seldom on film has the mundane existence of ordinary people seemed so fascinating, (and Herzog's use of non-actors throughout only enhances this feeling of reality). Of course, these characters are misfits; they don't fit in and they lead lives of mostly unrelieved misery and this has lead to accusations that Herzog is nothing more than a misanthrope and that, at best, he patronizes his characters. His continual casting of actors like Bruno S and Klaus Kinski has lead to a kind of alienation though, in Herzog's case, madness, like beauty may be only in the eye of the beholder with Stroszek no more to be pitied than Cool Hand Luke. If "Stroszek" is a tragedy, it is a comic one and immediately identifiable as the work of its director: you don't mistake a Herzog movie set in America as a Bob Rafelson movie. And yes, before you ask, it's visually superb and with a great soundtrack, too. Essential.

I thought this film was entertaining, the fact that you have a comical duo, it portrays an initiating quality of immigrants to the American far west in a modern age. The movie has some black humor, but i thought maybe it was making fun of the fact that suffering occurs in the human condition by killing off the main character at the end. Although I thought it wouldn't work as a story, it turned out to work as a film. I say this because of the fact that the encounters of bruno are so obtuse that one gets the idea that he will never get help. To break the law is important because this character bruno almost acts animal-like. Although the story is believable, I don't think in reality a germanic family whom immigrated wouldn't be hit by the social services first, before the bank. However, to break a contract because of no money is a different story. This is somewhat unrealistic, given that they don't manage to sell the things they bought or even try to for that matter..yet this is not a negative review, it just simply lets the viewer decide as to the delusive actions brought about by the main characters. Sure he shot himself because of it though (spoilers). TBH if I ever owed the bank money without breaking the constitution I would and am glad this occurs in growing communities...for experience of course.

In Berlin, the alcoholic street musician Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.) is released from prison and while returning home, he invites the prostitute Eva (Eva Mattes) to move to his apartment and leave her two abusive pimps. His paranoid friend and neighbor Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz) has taken care of his apartment and his piano while he was imprisoned. On the next day, Stroszek plays accordion and glockenspiel on the streets to raise some money and when he arrives home, he finds Eva beaten and the two pimps humiliate him. The harassment continues and without any option, Stroszek, Eva and Scheitz decide to begin a new life in Wisconsin, where a relative of Scheitz lives. The trio of friends travels to the United States of America expecting to make money and accomplish the American Dream. Bruno works in a auto mechanic and Eva as a waitress in a diner, and they buy a prefabricated house despite the concern of Bruno with the installments. When the bank threatens to take the house due to delay in the payments of the loan, Eva enters in the prostitution again with truck drivers to raise the necessary money. Sooner Stroszek discovers in a tragic way the sad reality of the American Dream."Stroszec" is a powerful and realistic movie about losers and the American Dream. The screenplay is original and unpredictable like life is, with magnificent lines and Werner Herzog uses also amateurish cast leaded by Bruno Schleinstein from "The Enigma of Kaspar Hause", who is the unwanted son of a prostitute that spent a great part of his life in mental institutions due to the severe abuse and beaten; therefore, the actor has some problems indeed and the beginning of the film is very similar to his real life. The conclusion is open to interpretation and I believe that Stroszek shot himself. I do not understand the meaning of the dancing chicken; with regard to the frozen turkey, I am not sure whether it is a symbolism indicating that Stroszec wanted to return to his origins in Turkey since he is Turkish-German, or if it is Thanksgiving in USA at that moment and he ends alone without friends just with the turkey. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Stroszec"