Stroszek

Sitting down at director Werner Herzog's table, so to speak, one never expects light fare. The man is obsessed with tragedy, and not your everyday garden variety type of domestic tragedy either. Herzog likes to tackle tragedy of Greek proportions--his protagonists may not be gods, but they certainly aspire to be. So those of you familiar with Fitzcarraldo's doomed attempt to bring opera to the Third World, or Aguirre's megalomaniacal search for El Dorado may be surprised by Stroszek, a German musician/alcoholic who emigrates to America and buys a trailer. Not exactly heroic stuff. Bruno S. (Every Man for Himself and God Against All) plays the title character, a naive, but good-hearted man with a drinking problem who's spent most of his life in institutions. Emerging once again into the free world, Stroszek hooks up with his former girlfriend, Eva (Eva Mattes), and his landlord Scheitz, and trio head for Railroad Flats, Wisconsin in search of the American Dream. Eva, a prostitute, doesn't last long, departing with a pair of truckers bound for Vancouver. Scheitz, the most interesting of trio, fine tunes his theory about animal magnetism, wandering the countryside with a voltmeter. And Stroszek spirals into despondency, losing his girlfriend, then his trailer, then after a botched robbery, his friend Scheitz. The tragic ending is a powerful piece of filmmaking which moves beyond Stroszek's limited story. Herzog's commentary on America is neither enlightened nor even informed, yet with all its faults Stroszek has enough shining moments to recommend it. (R. Pitman)