Stroszek

Can anything be more existentially bleak than the shabby slums of Berlin? “Yes!,” exclaims director Werner Herzog via Stroszek, “try Wisconsin!.” Bruno S. stars as an ex-mental patient who dreams of the so-called promised land of America. He aligns himself with like-minded prostitute Eva Mattes and elderly, near-senile Clemens Scheitz. Upon their arrival in Wisconsin, the three misfits find that they're just as trapped in Dairy Country as they'd been in Germany, if not more so. The sour and bitter Stroszek earned worldwide critical and commercial acclaim, further establishing Herzog as the master of new cinematic realities. (Werner Herzog, Germany, 1977, 115 min.) In English and German with English subtitles

Presented as part of Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair in partnership with American Cinematheque and Philadelphia Film Society