STROSZEK

Germany, 1977, 108 minutes, Colour.
Bruno S. Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz.
Directed by Werner Herzog.

Stroszek is a Werner Herzog road movie in which three strange characters travel the US on their way to Wisconsin. They are an old man, a prostitute and a harmless ex-convict, played by Bruno S, Herzog's star of The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.

Herzog draws on his documentary background as well as his capacity for creating mythical stories. It is a glimpse of Germany and Germans a decade before the fall of the wall and the reunification.

1. The work of Werner Herzog? His exploration of themes in imaginative environments? His documentaries? Ability to visualise the psychological and fantasy? His work with Bruno S.? This film as summing up so many strands of his work? An enjoyable film? Contemporary issues? The European view of Germany and the contrast with the United States? A critique of American society and the American dream? A portrait of society, of individuals?

2. The picture of Germany in the '70s? Berlin? Apartments? Prison? Germany as imprisoning? The contrast with the United States? The mid-West? People being imprisoned in the open spaces of the United States? The realism and the symbolism of the locations and environments? Colour photography, authentic atmosphere? The musical score - especially the range of songs from the '60s?

3. Herzog's use of Bruno S.? His skill in Kaspar Hauser? His adaptation to a modern screenplay? His natural acting skills? His being directed and controlled by Herzog? A symbol of the contemporary oppressed German?

4. The picture of Europe? Germany in the '70s? The long traditions of Europe? Society, ordinary citizens, the experience of oppression? Victims of society? The comparison with the United States: the new world, the dream of success, the importance of having things? The discovery of the similarity of imprisonment in both Germany and the United States? How was the presentation of environment visually and thematically persuasive?

5. The character of Bruno: seeing him in prison, the reasons for his imprisonment, his history, possessions? Friends? The rules? His leaving prison and the exhortation - especially about drink? His honour and integrity? His coming back into the real world? His sense of isolation? A victim of the prison system?

6. His exhilaration in getting out of prison? The return to the bar? His room, the encounter with pimps, with Eva? His bird and his devotion to it? Friendship with Schietz? Music in the streets, the accordion? The range of people encountered? A pleasant person? Wanting to do well? The doctor and the baby? The money? The dream of success - shared with Eva and Schietz and the desire to move? The possibilities of going from the old world to the new?

7. The ugly side of Berlin: the thugs, the pimps? The drink? Brutality? The smash? Eva and her being bought? Her being saved by Stroszek? Her erratic behaviour, being bashed? The precarious life of the prostitute - and the need for money?

8. Schietz as an old man, a pleasant old man? The map? His hopes?

9. The trip to the United States and all its hopes? The music, New York, travelling to the west? The change from Germany? Things going well? The support of the nephew? Friendship? The loan, the house, comforts, Stroszek and his job?

10. Stroszek and his worries? Coping with his work? Eva and her job? With the truck-drivers? The banter and the moving towards prostitution?

11. Schietz and animal magnetism? The support of the nephew? His getting old?

12. The banker, Eva's moving out, the repossession? The gun, the robbery and the arrest?

13. Eva and her moving further into a world of unreality? Betraying Stroszek and Schietz? Moving out to Los Angeles? The pathos of her character?

14. Stroszek and his driving? The background of the Indians? The background of Indian ritual and tradition? His going to the Indian setting? Going in circles - life as a circle? The dancing chicken and the ride? The chairlift? Realism and fantasy?

15. The baby and its potential, the chickens and the chairlift?

16. Schietz and Stroszek with the Bonnie and Clyde touch? Herzog's conscious reference to film traditions? Making their behaviour credible or not? Symbolic?

17. The film as an allegory of alienation and dreams? Migration? Spiritual limbos? Cages and prisons? Pessimism? Life in circles?