In Werner Herzog's idiosynchratic and lyrical take on the road movie, the road in question stretches between the gritty, urban slums of Berlin and the equally desolate railroad flats of Wisconsin, U.S.A. Herzog regular, Bruno S. (Kaspar Hauser in Herzog's THE MYSTERY OF KASPAR HAUSER) plays Stroszek, just out of jail, who is trying to stop drinking and eke out a living by selling fruit and playing music on the street. Stroszek finds a soul mate in Eva (Eva Mattes), an equally hard-up Berlin prostitute. However, the two quickly find their fate closing in on them when Eva's ex-pimps threaten to kill them both. An unlikely solution arises when Stroszek's neighbor, eccentric and aging Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), takes them along as he heads to rural Wisconsin to meet up with long-lost relatives. When the three displaced Germans arrive in Wisconsin, their lives seem to change for the better, but as the tarnished lures of capitalism fade and the bills pile up, they find themselves locked into the same struggles they fled Berlin to escape. In the process Herzog paints a melancholic and dark portrait of the alien landscapes and the perversely poetic culture of the rural poor in Midwestern America.

Three oddball Berliners--an old man, a prostitute, and an slow-witted but harmless ex-convict--experience America on a pilgrimage to the heartland, with Railroad Flats, Wisconsin, as their final destination.

Theatrical release: January 12, 1977.

Filmed between November 17 and December 31, 1976 and February 17-18, 1977.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic - 1.66
Audio:
Mono - German
Subtitles - English - Optional
Additional Release Materials:
Audio Commentary - 1. Werner Herzog - Director, Norman Hill
Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Biographies - 1. Werner Herzog - Director

Bruno S.: German Actor/With Herzog
Eva Mattes: German Actress
Clemens Scheitz: German Actor

Werner Herzog: German Director/Screenwriter/Producer, FITZCARRALDO (1982)

Werner Herzog: German Director/Screenwriter/Producer, FITZCARRALDO (1982)

"...STROSZEK works as a powerful argument on the level of its images..."
"...Terrifically, spontaneously funny and, just as spontaneously, full of unexpected pathos..."
"[A] steady but bleak 1977 gaze at American badlands..."
"With its deadpan humour, brutality and rambling storyline, this often seems like a German variation on a Charles Bukowski novel."