Kurt Vonnegut once said the problem with the hippie generation is that they expect love and happiness but "I would settle for a little common human decency."
This movie is Herzog being "decent." He promised Bruno (his challenged actor) another movie, but when Bruno couldn't learn the part of Woyzeck he realized his old friend Klaus Kinski had to take the role -- and did so brilliantly. But he had made a promise so he kept his word and wrote this movie on the spot, and even got the great Eva Mathes (who won the Golden Lion in Venice for her role as Marie, Woyzeck's tragic love) to pitch in and play an abused hooker. All the rest of the cast were amateur "characters."
It has the basic Herzog themes of struggle against all odds and regardless of outcome even in the most hopeless cases. And just that spirit of struggle is worth applauding. This one just doesn't go into the usual richly layered labyrinths of dreamscapes that Herzog, being the romanticist he is, tends to use as story within the story as allegories for the whole story -- the romantics' arabesque. Strozeck is more blunt, straight forward and hits the viewers over the head with a lot of grotesque black humor.
This movie has great hilarious black humor scenes and a great punchline when the hero compares the bank repossession agent's pen with the beatings by the Nazi's in the Concentration Camp -- unfavorably.
It's great fun to watch and wallow in if you're in a dark or twisted mood, but I wouldn't base drastic decisions about the rest of my life, especially its remaining duration on what is arguably Herzog's most crude slapstick and that includes the one with the rebellious Spanish dwarfs.
But it really isn't fair to compare this or any other Herzog film to his big dramatic successes like Aguirre, Kasper Hauser, Fitzcaraldo, Nosferatu or Woyzeck. While they share some common themes (see above) every one of his movies and documentaries are their own work and can range from remakes of 19th century realist play, 1920s silent movie, 18th century romanticism or the joys of mountain climbing or ski jumping.
As its own work, Stroszek is fun to watch and a good laugh watching one of the 20th century's legendary independent filmmakers present a very different mood.
This movie is Herzog being "decent." He promised Bruno (his challenged actor) another movie, but when Bruno couldn't learn the part of Woyzeck he realized his old friend Klaus Kinski had to take the role -- and did so brilliantly. But he had made a promise so he kept his word and wrote this movie on the spot, and even got the great Eva Mathes (who won the Golden Lion in Venice for her role as Marie, Woyzeck's tragic love) to pitch in and play an abused hooker. All the rest of the cast were amateur "characters."
It has the basic Herzog themes of struggle against all odds and regardless of outcome even in the most hopeless cases. And just that spirit of struggle is worth applauding. This one just doesn't go into the usual richly layered labyrinths of dreamscapes that Herzog, being the romanticist he is, tends to use as story within the story as allegories for the whole story -- the romantics' arabesque. Strozeck is more blunt, straight forward and hits the viewers over the head with a lot of grotesque black humor.
This movie has great hilarious black humor scenes and a great punchline when the hero compares the bank repossession agent's pen with the beatings by the Nazi's in the Concentration Camp -- unfavorably.
It's great fun to watch and wallow in if you're in a dark or twisted mood, but I wouldn't base drastic decisions about the rest of my life, especially its remaining duration on what is arguably Herzog's most crude slapstick and that includes the one with the rebellious Spanish dwarfs.
But it really isn't fair to compare this or any other Herzog film to his big dramatic successes like Aguirre, Kasper Hauser, Fitzcaraldo, Nosferatu or Woyzeck. While they share some common themes (see above) every one of his movies and documentaries are their own work and can range from remakes of 19th century realist play, 1920s silent movie, 18th century romanticism or the joys of mountain climbing or ski jumping.
As its own work, Stroszek is fun to watch and a good laugh watching one of the 20th century's legendary independent filmmakers present a very different mood.