Stroszek

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Stroszek
Image:Werner Herzog - Stroszek 01.jpg Bruno S. as Der Bruno Stroszek
Directed by	Werner Herzog
Produced by	Willi Segler
Written by	Werner Herzog
Starring	Bruno S. Eva Mattes Clemens Scheitz
Music by	Chet Atkins Sonny Terry
Cinematography	Thomas Mauch
Editing by	Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus
Release date(s)	1977
Running time	115 min.
Language	German English
IMDb profile

Stroszek is a 1977 film by German director Werner Herzog. It was written in four days specifically for Bruno S. and was shot in Berlin and two towns in Wisconsin. Most of the characters except for the three main characters, Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.), Eva (Eva Mattes), and Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), are non-actors.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Analysis
4 Reception
5 Ian Curtis
6 External link

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.) is a Berlin street singer. Released from prison and warned to stop drinking, he immediately goes to a bar where he befriends Eva (Eva Mattes), a prostitute down on her luck, whom he lets stay with him. After they are harried and beaten by Eva's former pimps, they decide to leave Germany and accompany Bruno's eccentric elderly neighbour Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), who was planning to move to Wisconsin to live with his American nephew.

In that winter-bound, barren prairie, Bruno works as a mechanic, Eva as a waitress and Scheitz pursues his interest in animal magnetism. The pair buy a trailer, but, as bills mount the bank threatens to repossess it. Eva fall back into prostitution to supplement her wages, but it is not enough. She tires of Bruno's drunken ramblings and deserts him by leaving with a couple of trucker drivers bound for Vancouver. She is notably the only one of the trio who speaks any English.

A man from bank visits Bruno, who is now drinking steadily, and has him sign off on the repossession. The home is auctioned, and he and Scheitz, who is convinced that it is all a conspiracy set off to confront the "conspiracy." Finding the bank closed, they hold up a barber shop adjacent to it, and then go shopping in a small grocery store across the street. The police arrive and arrest Scheitz, leaving Bruno. Holding a large, frozen turkey and the gun, Bruno returns to the garage where he works, loads the truck with many beers, and drives off. When his truck breaks, he eats and tells his story to a German speaking business man at a restaurant. Then he goes into a tourist trap across the street, where he rides a ski lift with his frozen turkey. The film ends bizarrely with a sequence showing a dancing chicken.

[edit] Production

Herzog wrote the script for Stroszek in four days specifically for Bruno S.
The apartment and instruments used in the film were all property of Bruno S., who had purchased them with the money provided by The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.
Parts of the movie were shot near Plainfield and in a truck stop in Madison, Wisconsin. The small crew did often not obtain any official permits, just using unchanged localities and local people.
Herzog discovered Bruno S. in a documentary about street musicians. Herzog was fascinated with Bruno and despite the fact that he had no training as an actor Herzog cast him as the lead in two of his films, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Stroszek.
Herzog met the mechanic when his car broke down in the town. He was there to meet Errol Morris to dig up Ed Gein's mother's grave, but Morris never showed.

[edit] Analysis

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is Herzog's use of local talent for the many smaller parts, including the mechanic and bank official (Scott McKain). During a trip to Wisconsin, Herzog met the auto mechanic (Clayton Szalpinski) who would later play the part in the film. His intent was to use local talent to portray characters in a naturalistic fashion. One of the most memorable political points in the film is found in Bruno's discussion of politics under the Nazis and politics in the U.S. He finds that Nazi brutality was displayed in the open while U.S. political/economic oppression occurs in the fine print of contracts. The ending of the film is much debated, and it involves an enigmatic scene of dancing chickens and rabbits inside a local tourist trap.

The film incorporates many biographical details from Bruno's life. Born the son of a prostitute and severely abused by her, he spent his childhood as a ward of the state in a mental asylum. and life as a street musician.

[edit] Reception

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The film has a 100% freshness rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert called it "one of the oddest films ever made."[1]

[edit] Ian Curtis

Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the band Joy Division, reportedly committed suicide a few hours after watching the film on BBC 2 on May 18, 1980. The original vinyl release version of Joy Division's posthumous album Still featured the following groove notation: "The chicken won't stop" (side A), etched chicken tracks across the grooves (sides B & C), and "The chicken stops here" (side D). These are all in reference to the film's grim finale.