Bruno
Stroszeck (Bruno S.) is released from prison and returns back to the
streets of Berlin. Arriving back in his old haunts, he meets up with
his old friend Eva (Eva Mattes), a prostitute who is being tortured by
her pimps. He shelters her in his flat, but they return to beat her up
and attack Bruno too. Eventually, along with their neighbour Scheitz
(Clemens Scheitz) the trio head to America hoping to start a new life
and live the 'American dream'. Moving to Railroad Flats, Wisconsin,
they rent a mobile home and get work - but soon the money starts to dry
up and the banks starts to put on the pressure - eventually Bruno grows
to realise that the New World is no better than the old.
Stroseck
is on the surface a very simple story of 3 people trying to start a new
life, but the script is clever enough to keep it interesting. In equal
measures, the story is heartwarming and heartwrenching and keeps you
guessing the whole way through, with lots of unexpected twists. Herzog
had the advantage, when writing, of knowing who he was to cast in the
lead roles and the film is written around these actors, even using
their real first names; along with the naturalistic dialogue (in both
English and German), this helps to give the film a lot of realism. Only
towards the end does the film start to become more surreal as
everything starts to go wrong, and the ending is simply off the wall.
Herzog again avoids making any political statements here and the film
never 'judges' America or blames it for the problems, some people claim
the film to be a critique of American capitalism, but really it is a
small scale drama with no judgement for their problems - which are
equally bad in Berlin as in America. As with most of Herzog's
productions, the pacing is slow and there is little action, so this is
not one for the MTV crowd, but it is always moving and never drags.
The
film has a documentary ambience thanks to Herzog's use of handheld
cameras and location shoots (there is no studio work here), the
locations themselves are very well scouted and have a wonderfully
Anytown USA feel to them, as though the story could be happening
anywhere. There is some light music, used sparingly, that helps the
atmosphere further.
For the most part,
Stroszeck uses non-actors. Bruno S. was a Berlin street musician and factory worker when cast in Herzog's earlier
Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974). After sucess of that film, Herzog decided to cast Bruno in an adaptation of the stage play
Woyzeck,
but he later decided that Klaus Kinski would be much better in the role
(and he was, when the film was shot in 1979), so instead Herzog wrote
Stroszeck
for Bruno. His acting is very natural as the character was completely
based on himself, he even tells true stories of his own past. Clemens
Scheitz (the little old man) gets his only top billing here, an extra,
also cast in
Enigma of Kasper Hauser
(1974), Herzog loved his eccentricities and again based the character
on the man himself. Eva Mattes is the only real actor in the film and
she works very well, especially helping to get a good performance from
Bruno in their scenes together. Most of the rest of the cast are 'real
people' found during shooting, and they all play their appropriate
parts well, helping the film's documentary style.
Almost neo-realist until the equally tragic/comic and surreal climax,
Stroszeck
is a very cleverly written film with top performances from the cast and
some good direction. A great film and highly recommended to all,
especially Herzog fans.
