STROSZEK
“Stroszek” is about an alcoholic that wants to leave Germany to find a better life in Wisconsin. The film is Herzog’s answer to the American Dream, as he wants to show the troubles that many Europeans fleeing the mainland during the 30s-50s felt in America. The constant sense that you won’t be able to assimilate and contribute in a land of possibility is overwhelming. I won’t call Bruno Stroszek a madman, but he is a loser. A loser in the sense that he doesn’t have an identity, purpose or defined goals that matter in the grand scheme of things. It’s pretty funny when you realize that the film began life as a planned feature about Ed Gein that was going to be created with the help of Errol Morris.
The film comes with a commentary track featuring Werner Herzog and a trailer as the special features. The 1080p transfer is flat and the DTS-HD 2.0 master audio track doesn’t get much to work with during its run. But, it looks the way that I saw it in a revival theater. I appreciate the attempt at Shout Factory’s behalf to match these presentations as close to their original theatrical exhibitions as possible.