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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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What's with the chicken?
I watched the film twice in a row, the second time with the director's commentary, which added quite a bit. The director tells us that the lead character, Bruno, was just playing himself, often improvising, and had a miserable childhood living in institutions. He seems, to me, to be intelligent, hapless, and so odd.
The only professional actor I remember in the film is the woman playing the leading female role, Eva. She plays a German prostitute who gets mistreated by her pimp.
The rest of the cast is non-professional. Bruno is just a very odd man. The pimp is what he appears to be in the film, a tough guy who enjoys hurting and humiliating people. The elderly lunatic who accompanies Bruno to America is just that, an elderly lunatic. The minor characters are just people who were recruited or happened to be around during the shooting.
It's an interesting story. They flee from Germany to get away from the dangerous pimp who harasses them. They take a boat to New York City and show us the view from the Empire State Building, a magnet for tourists. The only time I went up there was at the insistence of a tourist friend I was showing the town to. Then they go across country to Wisconsin.
I'm happy for them that they have escaped the abuse they were experiencing in Germany, but they end up not doing well in America either. Bruno is a mess, what can I say. He's an interesting mess though.
The main reason I put on the director's commentary was to find out why he spent so much time showing a dancing chicken at the end of the movie. Well, he disappointed there. Instead of explaining why the scene was there, he just said how much he loves the scene, and then let it play in its entirety without a word of explanation.
That is one hell of an odd scene, that dancing chicken. You'd think it would be symbolic of something, and perhaps it is. Symbolic of the animated senselessness of our lives? Or of Bruno's? I really can't say. Unfortunately, it is one of those cases where the artist doesn't explain himself, and just lets you take out of it whatever you want. I hate that. I hate when artists refuse to explain what they meant. Maybe he was just enjoying the sensation of watching a dancing chicken.
Rating: 
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The grass is always greener
Stroszek is not the film to watch if you are interested in special effects, slick Hollywood production values, studied, disciplined acting or uplifting, action-packed entertainment. In fact, some scenes appear to have been improvised. Its unpolished feel might be attributable to the claim it was allegedly written by Herzog specifically for its star, Bruno S., within a span of four days. This suits the film's style rather well, however, since its principle characters, Bruno Stroszek and his two friends, are nearly destitute and are not especially well established in their community. (Contributing to this is the fact that Bruno S. wasn't really an actor by trade) An alcoholic, ex-con loser in Berlin, Bruno Stroszek decides the United States is where his fate lies, so he heads for the Land of Promise with Eva and Scheitz, two disillusioned people who also believe in the dream of US salvation. Leaving Germany is not a very difficult decision for Bruno because he has but one worthwhile, earthly possession: his beloved piano. He believes the rewards of moving to the US will more than compensate for the loss of his piano. The US is the destination for many people because they believe in the promise it holds. After arriving here, all one has to do is work hard and one's dreams will all come true, correct? The dream does not come true for everyone, including millions of native-born citizens, because it is not as simple as that. No matter where Bruno Stroszek is in this world, he would have a difficult time making it because his survival skills are deficient. A baby will clasp its hands onto something and cling for dear life out of instinct, yet instinct alone will not suffice in order to succeed in life. Somewhere along the way, Stroszek has lost either some of his instincts or his ability to survive. I don't see this film as being anti-American because Bruno and his friends make some very poor decisions and their fates are decided by what they bring upon themselves. Tragically, their situation is contingent upon their location because they would not make these same decisions if they did not completely believe in the promise their location brings. So what is Herzog's purpose for making the film, if not an anti-US diatribe? It is ironic that so many US citizens have longed to leave the US since george bush was chosen as president in 2000. Are we that confident in our abilities to survive or thrive anywhere? Are we that full of hubris that we believe US citizens can maintain our lifestyles no matter where we live? Or perhaps we are ignorant of how the rest of the world lives, taking for granted our wages and way of life? There is no perfect place to live. If we are unhappy with our current conditions, we first need to ask ourselves what is the source of this displeasure. Then we must take action to change it, even if the difficult reality mandates changing ourselves. Perhaps Herzog was attempting to help his friend, Bruno S., come to this realization? After all, did he not write the script specifically for him? He really is quite magnanimous.
Rating: -
Bruno in Promise Land
" Stroszek " is much more than a frontal punch to the " american way of life " and to many points of the U.S.A. culture: in first place we must not forget that Bruno Stroszek is an exiled in his own country. Herzog go beyond the political commentary or the social satire and observes Stroszek's tragic-comic odissey with the eyes of an antropologist and the melancholy scepticism of a romantic poet. Since the same moment Bruno has completed his sentence and he is out of the prison he is in a dead alley like a character of a Kafka's fable, but Herzog's scepticism about modern societies and human condition avoid the bad patch of an pleasant nihilism through the use of brechtian techniques and the fine sarcasm. With an excellent use of expresionist photography Herzog narrates the process of progressive allienation of his main character who flee to Wisconsin with an ill-treated prostitute and a friend looking for some other place to sprout roots. However, in the same moment he arrives to the U.S.A. he begins to get into debt and all his efforts to fit will be useless. Through its sometimes haunted images ( I think immediatly in the "delirious" scene of the chicken dancing an histrionic country song, an expresionist commentary about the situation of absolute uprooting and feeling of absurdity of Bruno ) Herzog reflects perfectly the mad culture of a country that has sweeped away the bigger part of his past and has invented inconsistent myths and sponsored the publicity to cover this " hole ", in the context, for other part, of a character who look for an option to the old Europe. Like in Herzog's " Jeder für sich and Gott gegen alles " Bruno S. incarnates a presumed unadapted annuled by the arbitrary rules of men and the "industries" they have built up in the name of the cosmic boredom.
In short, " Stroszek " is a devastating look towards our grotesque world that avoid to make concessions to the audience but, over all, a movie that reflects the lucid humanity of Werner Herzog.
Rating: -
An American Nightmare?
I really like this film. I just bought the DVD a couple of weeks ago. I'd never heard of it, but I took a gamble and made a great discovery. I am just now becoming familiar with Herzog's films and can't wait to see some more that he has made.
Now, I don't mind watching a foreign movie with English subtitles, but I must confess that I had to watch this movie twice and then listen to a little of the director's commentary to really and truly appreciate it. I happen to know quite a few people who have immigrated to the United States in recent years and I can appreciate what Bruno and his two companions must have felt when their dreams of a better life didn't become a reality.
I watched it with my husband and he found it depressing. I guess some folks don't like reality...they want an escape. "Stroszek" is not an escape from reality. It is a much too painful reminder. But there is still some beauty to the film. The hard thing to determine here is when things start to go wrong and the reason for that. I suppose that some things were just not meant to be for Bruno and his two friends. The painful question here is: why? Sadly, Bruno was not equipped to deal with the real world. Neither was the prostitute, Eva, who became his girlfriend. Unfortunately, she went back to her old ways. I believe that the character of "Bruno" was very much based on the real life persona of the actor who played him in the film (Bruno S.). I believe that Werner Herzog is indeed a man with a vision. I really got a kick out of the dancing chicken! It is a very thoughtful, wonderful, and sad film.
Rating: 
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Nothing Special
'Storszek' is a film by Werner Herzog about and down-and-out struggling German citizen who moves to the United States in order for a better life. He brings along a prostitute and an older man to live with him in the states. There is really nothing special about this movie. Many important things from the plot are either left out or just plain confusing. The film has a good message in showing that life in America is difficult and frustrating too, and that the streets are not paved with gold in this country. The movie has a really annoying ending where a chicken is dancing while loud hillbilly music is playing in the background. From what I have seen from Werner Herzog, his films can be divided into two categories. First are his films Klaus Kinski, which are actually really good and worth watching. All his other stuff is pretentious gargabe and a waste of time.
