Stroszek

Werner Herzog‘s Stroszek is about Bruno Stroszek and his adventure to America to escape the emptiness of Germany and it’s fitting for today in that the ending features a Thanksgiving of sorts, although a myth breaking version of it. Bruno, a prostitute named Eva, and Scheitz, Bruno’s older friend, go on a journey to America to make it and escape oppressive and depressive Germany. Bruno and Scheitz are alike in their impracticality and dreamy disposition. Eva is a little too practical, even desperate and her new life in America looks more like a scenery change only. The difference between America and Germany to Bruno seems to be the way in which the society breaks you down. Germany does it physically but America does something even more insidious, they break your spirit while smiling with overly white teeth and being seemingly friendly. Interesting things abound in this magical, bleak film: dancing chickens, mobile homes, colorful idiot hicks, banker schmucks, country and western songs – a panoply of American mythology looked at depressingly but lucidly. America is shiny and glamorous but that’s just the surface, the persona or mask. What’s behind the mask isn’t that pretty and the uglier and more fragmented the truth becomes the thicker the veneer that is needed to fool others and oneself. This film is about that duality but it’s also an adventure that’s enjoyable.