Werner Herzog‘s Stroszek is exactly what you’d expect from the eccentric filmmaker, which is to say it’s somewhat inexplicable, entrancing, honest and leaves us scratching our heads for meaning as much as it all seems crystal clear. I’ve seen it referred to as a comedy and I guess if you consider the premise it does sound like one of those “a rabbi, a priest and a minister walk into a bar” jokes, but therein lies the mystery of Herzog, a man that will take a mildly retarded ex-con, a prostitute and an elderly German man and offer a scenario wherein the trio pack up, leave Germany and make a new home in Wisconsin. Makes perfect sense… right?
The film’s origins are as wild, if not more so, than the premise. Herzog originally intended to cast his lead actor, Bruno S. (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser), in Woyzeck only to later decide the role was better suited for Klaus Kinski. On telling Bruno the news he was met with a stunned silence and word Bruno had already set aside time for the shoot. Herzog, feeling guilty, told him they would make another film, it would be titled Stroszek. He didn’t know what the story would be, but he would have a script for him in six days.
Knowing this, it comes as no surprise just how much Stroszek comes from the tortured life of Herzog’s lead actor, whose mother, a prostitute, beat him so bad when he was three he stopped talking, which she used as reason to put him in a mental asylum, a life (including foster homes and prison) he wouldn’t escape for the next 23 years.
Consider this bit of history as the film opens, introducing us to Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.), an alcoholic, mildly retarded street performer, as he’s released from jail and told to stay away from alcohol or risk finding himself back in prison. What does he do? He immediately walks into a bar, orders a beer and begins chatting with Eva (Eva Mattes), a prostitute arguing with her pimp.
The similarities are inescapable and the comparison opens several doors for interpretation knowing both Bruno’s story and the narrative Herzog has concocted. Your heart immediately reaches out to Bruno, in character and in his real life, and his performance comes from a place of such honesty that you know it means a lot to him to simply “act” it out, but you don’t ever look at it as an act.
After this initial encounter, Bruno offers Eva a place to stay as she sorts out her life. Bruno’s home and belongings have been looked after while he as in jail by an elderly friend, Mr. Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), whom immediately informs Bruno his nephew in Wisconsin has offered him a place to stay. After Eva and Bruno both have continual run-ins with her pimp, it becomes evident it’s time to leave Germany. With Eva turning tricks to earn the money for their journey, the whole plan begins on something of a dark note as they head for America and a dream of getting rich quick.
Once in Wisconsin, Eva works as a waitress and Bruno helps Schietz’s nephew Clayton (Clayton Szalpinski) as a mechanic, but things begin to unravel. Money is due the bank for their mobile home, Eva must turn to other means to earn more money while at the same time she draws closer to Bruno only to pull away entirely. All the while Bruno isn’t oblivious to what’s going on around him, he sees the writing on the wall, but is helpless to stop it, all leading to a final act you could never in a million years predict.
A robbery of a local barber shop, a frozen turkey and a dancing chicken all make up the final moments of this film before Bruno takes a seat on an empty ski lift accompanied by only a shotgun. His life, seemingly going in circles with only one possible solution to eliminate the monotony.
With the film written in a mere six days you never feel as if Stroszek was ever entirely scripted as it’s seen on screen. It’s as if the characters, many of which are locals, shaped the story as much as Bruno’s real life story shaped the film’s origins. Very few of the names have been changed and as Bruno tells horror stories of his character’s time as a child, to know he’s telling a true story from his actual life wrenches your heart further. Herzog finds a way of making narrative fiction so close to non-fiction it’s as if all of his films are fictional documentaries, which adds a whole other level of richness to their stories.
Stroszek can be looked at in a myriad of ways, though I have a hard time thinking of it as a comedy. It’s a sometimes scathing commentary on the American way of life. The dancing chicken, doing the same thing over and over again for every quarter it receives. The endless monotony of our lives, driven by the need for money to ensure we have what’s deemed “necessary” in life. Perhaps it’s out of this misconception of what’s necessary that explains why the Stroszek trio weren’t able to make it work.
That being said, maybe it’s not so much a commentary on America as much as it’s a misconception of what it means to attain the “American dream”. Either way, it’s fascinating and it’s a story only Herzog could bring to life and in the combination of Bruno S. and Eva Mattes he found the perfect vessels for which to tell the story.
