Stroszek
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.98 You Save: $9.99 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.97 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Stroszek
Movie Review: The grass is always greener
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: The tenacity of the reflex grip
Summary: 5 Stars
At one point in Herzog's brilliant "Stroszek," the mentally handicapped street musician Bruno (Bruno S.) and his physician are speaking. Bruno is in despair at the sordidness and violence of life. Taking him to one of the preemies in the hospital's neonatal ward, the physician holds out his two index fingers and the infant, scrawny, leathery, barely clinging to life, reaches up and grabs them so tightly that the doctor can lift him out of the cradle. There is, he tells Bruno, a remarkable reflex grip in humans. They hang on, no matter what.
The reflex grip seems to be one of the two themes running through this black comedy (is it really a comedy? I'm not sure; Herzog defies easy genre) about three of life's rejects: Eva the prostitute (Eva Mattes), the tiny ancient eccentric Mr. Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), and Bruno. Chased out of Berlin by thugs, they migrate to Wisconsin to begin a new life, only to discover that there are new and unfamiliar threats. In Berlin, Bruno tells Maria in one particularly engaging scene, the Nazis brutally broke bodies. Here, in the U.S., Americans politely break the spirit.
Still, the three characters' reflex grip tightens in rebellion against their fate. Eva runs away from the worsening situation; Mr. Scheitz turns bandito; and Bruno, refusing to capitulate, asserts his grip by killing himself (presumably; it's a bit ambiguous).
The justly famous final scene features an antic and rather creepy funhouse into which Bruno that has cages of trained animals. One of them is a dancing chicken, who does a slippery sort of mashed-potato dance to tinny, carnivalish music. The chicken is a metaphor for the film's other theme, which is in continuous tension with the first: the fact that fate, the system, the Man, call it what you will, plays the tune and the rest of us are chickens that dance. Without the first theme, the film's message would be pretty dismal. But even as dancing chickens, the grip reflex can help us preserve some degree of autonomy and dignity.
One of Herzog's very best, with an amateur cast, except for the incredible Eva Mattes, which is simply superb.
Movie Review: Bruno in Promise Land
Summary: 5 Stars
" 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.
Movie Review: Probably Herzog's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
"Stroszek" is probably German director Werner Herzog's best film. It's a strange, unpredictable, and oddly funny movie. It's about a Berlin ex-con, Bruno Stroszek (played by a real-life disturbed street musician, Bruno S.), his prostitute girlfriend Eva, and his borderline-senile landlord Scheitz. After being repeatedly terrorized by Eva's pimps, they move to Wisconsin to live with some of Scheitz's friends and, hopefully, encounter the American dream. Revealing any more of the plot would be a crime. "Stroszek" not only has a terrific, haunting performance by Bruno S., but it contains the most fascinating depiction of America I have ever seen in a movie, as well as one of filmdom's funniest bank robberies.The DVD has "Stroszek" in an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1. It's a bit grainy towards the beginning, but overall it looks pretty good, especially in the Wisconsin scenes. Of the extras, the most interesting is Herzog's commentary, basically an extended interview with a film historian named Norman Hill. It's a very fascinating blend of production tidbits, information about Bruno S., and some of Herzog's trademark tall tales. Also included are production notes (with are actually devoted more to film analysis and Herzog's relationship with Bruno S. than they are to production), a worthwhile Herzog biography, and a German trailer.
Movie Review: A bleakly uniquely uplifting downbeat Herzog wonder
Summary: 5 Stars
With all the inherent contradictions that implies! The key image of a broken down car going round in endless circles from Herzog's earlier Even Dwarfs Started Small turns up again in Stroszek, but this film is much more impressive than that exercise in chaos and subversion. It's another tale of people who don't fit anywhere, in this case the almost alien Bruno S. and his dysfunctional adopted family of hooker Eva Mattes and eccentric Clemens Scheitz, who emigrate from Germany to find the American dream only to discover easy credit, unpaid bills, bailiffs, rifles and dancing chickens instead.
Yet for all the misfortune and grim subject matter, it's surprisingly not as bitter and dour as you might expect, with plenty of Herzogian moments that are so unlikely they seem strangely convincing - even when his two leading men rob a barber shop and immediately run to the convenience store across the road to spend their ill-gotten gains. It also has one of those unexpectedly prescient moments where Bruno S and Eva Mattes are talking about America's national parks where Grizzly bears run free...
The film is light on extras but does feature one of Herzog's excellent audio commentaries.