Review of Stroszek (1977) by Wut S — 20 Sep 2007

It's hard to describe the viewing experience or the anecdote (if any) of Stroszek. The film is referential to its cast, telling the life of a character who fails to fit into any society unless he could be under surveillance. The political undertone seems negligible because the film remains neutral to the outcome of the main character who's bound to fail his life due to his antisocial behavior (at least narrow-mindedness).

It is said that Herzog wrote Stroszek in four days especially for Bruno S., the leading actor. In real life, Bruno S. was the unwanted son of a prostitute, was often beaten as a child, and spent much of his life in mental institutions--paralleling the character Bruno Stroszek who we can see leaving alcohol rehabilitation center/prison at the beginning of the story. But unlike the film's ending, Bruno S. becomes rather famous and successful in his career, thus the film is not faithful to the actor's biography. Herzog uses real humans with real professions--Bruno as a street musician in real and fictional life, and a non-actor mechanic was casted spontaneously as a cast, etc. This casts Stroszek into an odd light--mainly because Bruno is not your regular actor, he was a real mental patient. The film is rather straightforward to follow, filled with pitiful humors and epic moments, but the bizarre, yet realistic human judgments and the chicken dance at the end elevate Stroszek into one of the most, for the lack of better word, unreal simplistic films I've ever watched.