Stroszek (1977)

The tenacity of the reflex grip

At one point in Herzog's brilliant "Stroszek," the mentally handicapped street musician Bruno (Bruno S.) and his physician are speaking. Bruno is in despair at the sordidness and violence of life. Taking him to one of the preemies in the hospital's neonatal ward, the physician holds out his two index fingers and the infant, scrawny, leathery, barely clinging to life, reaches up and grabs them so tightly that the doctor can lift him out of the cradle. There is, he tells Bruno, a remarkable reflex grip in humans. They hang on, no matter what.

The reflex grip seems to be one of the two themes running through this black comedy (is it really a comedy? I'm not sure; Herzog defies easy genre) about three of life's rejects: Eva the prostitute (Eva Mattes), the tiny ancient eccentric Mr. Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), and Bruno. Chased out of Berlin by thugs, they migrate to Wisconsin to begin a new life, only to discover that there are new and unfamiliar threats. In Berlin, Bruno tells Maria in one particularly engaging scene, the Nazis brutally broke bodies. Here, in the U.S., Americans politely break the spirit.

Still, the three characters' reflex grip tightens in rebellion against their fate. Eva runs away from the worsening situation; Mr. Scheitz turns bandito; and Bruno, refusing to capitulate, asserts his grip by killing himself (presumably; it's a bit ambiguous).

The justly famous final scene features an antic and rather creepy funhouse into which Bruno that has cages of trained animals. One of them is a dancing chicken, who does a slippery sort of mashed-potato dance to tinny, carnivalish music. The chicken is a metaphor for the film's other theme, which is in continuous tension with the first: the fact that fate, the system, the Man, call it what you will, plays the tune and the rest of us are chickens that dance. Without the first theme, the film's message would be pretty dismal. But even as dancing chickens, the grip reflex can help us preserve some degree of autonomy and dignity.

One of Herzog's very best, with an amateur cast, except for the incredible Eva Mattes, which is simply superb. July 7, 2008

Need some help...

In the first half of the movie, Bruno and the old man are in Berlin yet and the old man is playing a classical piece on the piano. Soon after, those pimps bust in again and harass Stroszek.

Any idea what this song is? It's driving me crazy! November 28, 2007

Unique, Funny, Odd, and (Occasionally) Dull

Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" is one of the most unique and odd films I've ever seen. It's probably one of the most unique films you will ever see, with images that you'll remember long after you watch it. That doesn't mean it's a spectacular film. While it ends up on many lists of great films (including in Roger Ebert's The Great Movies II, where I heard about it) it's not, in my opinion, a great film. Many moments are dull, it requires some patience from the viewer but you'll be glad you watched it. It plays like a comedy, but seems to shy away from the genre. In the end, it's an uncategorizable film and easily one of the strangest films ever made (not counting films by David Lynch and other similar directors). Bruno S. plays Bruno Stroszek, a retarded prison who is released from prison as the film begins. He has found out that his kind neighbor Mr. Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz, you may notice a pattern of people, basically, playing themselves) has saved his apartment for him. After meeting a prostitute named Eva (Eva Mattes), who has an abusive pimp, he offers to let her stay in his apartment. Pretty soon, Mr. Scheitz has been offered by his nephew in Wisconsin to come and stay with him. Mr. Scheitz decides to go and Bruno realizes that it would be best for him and Eva to join him. Once in Wisconsin, they move into a Fleetwood mobile home and gets a job...Eva, who speaks a little English, as a waitress and Bruno as a mechanic. To say the movie has a plot would be inaccurate. It has events that could be called a plot, but Herzog cuts away for a narrative and just presents us with events that make us unable to anticipate what's going to happen next. Many of the actors playing their characters draw from their personal lives, while many of the people in Wisconsin aren't actors but people who actually lived there. In fact the man who plays Mr. Scheitz's nephew was a mechanic who fixed Herzogs car. The ending of Stroszek (that is, the last 20 minutes) are some of the most fascinating scenes I've ever seen. After losing the mobile home and everything in it, Mr. Scheitz and Bruno decide to rob a bank. It's closed, so they rob the barbershop next door. I won't give away the rest, but it's all fascinating and...Trippy. The final line of the movie is something you'd rarely, if ever, see in an American film.
Stroszek has moments that are very dull, it doesn't really have a plot, the main character is played by a man who was said to be retarded, and it's in German. There are a lot of things wrong with it, but it's a film you'll never forget.

GRADE: B- December 22, 2006

A bleakly uniquely uplifting downbeat Herzog wonder

With all the inherent contradictions that implies! The key image of a broken down car going round in endless circles from Herzog's earlier Even Dwarfs Started Small turns up again in Stroszek, but this film is much more impressive than that exercise in chaos and subversion. It's another tale of people who don't fit anywhere, in this case the almost alien Bruno S. and his dysfunctional adopted family of hooker Eva Mattes and eccentric Clemens Scheitz, who emigrate from Germany to find the American dream only to discover easy credit, unpaid bills, bailiffs, rifles and dancing chickens instead.

Yet for all the misfortune and grim subject matter, it's surprisingly not as bitter and dour as you might expect, with plenty of Herzogian moments that are so unlikely they seem strangely convincing - even when his two leading men rob a barber shop and immediately run to the convenience store across the road to spend their ill-gotten gains. It also has one of those unexpectedly prescient moments where Bruno S and Eva Mattes are talking about America's national parks where Grizzly bears run free...

The film is light on extras but does feature one of Herzog's excellent audio commentaries. December 15, 2006

Everyone Knows Dollars Grow on Trees in Wisconsin

Werner Herzog, world reknown film maker and producer received the lifetime achievement award at the Sarasota Film Festival in April 2006. His films are primarily fictionalized documentaries. He adds fiction to bring focus on a larger truth by exaggerating events and making a bigger statement to prove his point. Herzog based the story of "Stroszek" on several real life events, some murders in Wisconsin and a street musician (who plays himself) who lived in Berlin, who was the son of a prostitute, who had been raised in reform schools and ended up in prison. He is lost in the real world because it is totally alien to him. Herzog provides an unusual cast of characters, many of whom are not actors, but play themselves, mostly working class (Wisconsin mechanics and Indians) and street low lifes (thugs in Berlin) who live unusually simple lives, just making ends meet in the world. The extra features include audio commentary with Werner Herzog who explains some of the innovative ideas on which he based the film. This is a tragi-comedy where no matter what improvements in life the main characters attempt, fate intervenes to twist them in a different direction, usually downward. There are humorous and ironic events which makes this a fascinating film from an artistic and creative aspect.

We meet Bruno Stroszek as he is being released from prison, he is given his belongings: cash, a flugel horn, his accordion and a lecture from the prison warden. The warden has a thankless job but when he sees someone released it brings him some measure of satisfaction: he lectures Bruno, to stop drinking beer which makes him crazy and break the a law. The warden tells him to buy a cup of coffee and a piece of pie instead. Bruno returns to the former apartment he shared with an eccentric elderly gentleman. He resumes relations with his prostitute girlfriend Eva, who is beaten up by street thugs. This event provides the impetus to emigrate to the United States, to Wisconsin, where the elderly gentleman had an American friend or cousin with whom he kept in touch.

In the US, Bruno gets a job as a mechanic, Eva becomes a waitress. They buy a mobile/trailer home and television set by taking a loan from the bank. It does not take long before they fall behind on their payments. They receive a visit from the bank loan officer, a very polite man, who makes it clear in the kindest of tones that unless they meet their obligations, the bank will confiscate their home and TV. Eva returns to her former way of life, finding clients at the truck stop restaurant, to provide extra money to pay the loan. Bruno falls into a funk, realizing no matter what they do, they will not make ends meet. Eva ends up leaving with a group of truckers to Canada ... Bruno and the elderly man go on a robbing spree, to get money in order to eat. It happens to be Thanksgiving, so the irony is they rob a store to buy a turkey. The elderly man is caught and arrested. Bruno's car breaks down but he obtains the truck from the mechanic's shop and goes on a driving rampage. He ends up at a Wisconsin tourist trap where he takes a ski lift type ride on which he sits and goes round and round. Prior to that he had turned on several of the exhibits in which different animals perform various tricks. The last scene is one of the most humorous and creative endings which earned Herzog fame. It depicts in a surreal manner that for some the American Dream becomes a bizarre nightmare from which there is no release. The film will appeal to those who are interested in unusual innovations and creativity in filmmaking. There is a lot of irony and off the wall humour which may appeal only to a selective audience. Erika Borsos {pepper flower} October 31, 2006

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