Herzog's STROSZEK (1977): Dancing chickens, Ed Gein & the American Dream

[@binxboi7156]

Had an affair with a woman whose boyfriend named their dog after the titular character. Thanks to that I finally watched this movie and I loved it. Per usual, great episode!

[@johnm.withersiv4352]

Cherokee, NC doesn't quite look like that anymore. It's a shame. I miss the tourist traps. Many of them are gone, tore out by "progress."

[@clintonorman2859]

Awesome, thanks! This was due for a re-watch. I remembered that it was funny and forgot how devastatingly sad it is. I liked the guy from the bank. He was a nice parallel to the pimps in Berlin invading the home space to shake them down. He's bullying them in another language, both literally and in the "robbing you with a pen" Woody Guthrie sense. The dancing chicken was kind of a cruel, robotic American version of a street musician. This is definitely one to revisit through the years. It's such a tight work with all kinds of themes and parallels!

[@WilliamSlaght]

I love how you guys mentioned "loops" when interpreting the ending. To quote Bruno from near the start of the movie, "it's going round in circles," when pleadingly pressured to not repeat his past mistakes and to abstain from alcohol, but this "loop" sadly continues however. Unfortunately to him life proves to not really be made out of comfortable circles that loop forever but of impermanent spirals that ends with him spiraling down into utter despair, desperation and disappointment. To spiral inwards into your own world and emotions is to eventually become pessimistic, isolated and disconnected where to those who even love you will eventually want to take their own distance hence Eva violently abandoning Bruno near the end. There is so much discuss. This is my first impression of this film that I just saw for the first time today, so I'm just personally sharing my two cents. Though I'm so certain this film's in part addressing the cycles that human beings can seem to be stuck in, such as the prostitution of Eva, the alcoholism of Bruno, the submission to those with power whether it being the pimps or the bank, and etc. This movie truly moved me, and happy to see that I'm not alone in this, so thanks for sharing your own interpretations.

[@chrisvahey5183]

Great discussion. You have to do more Herzogs

[@Nikopas6]

Great episode (and podcasts) of course. You add dignity to all the under the radar movies of the past. The ones that many dismiss as "boring or pretentious for its own sake". Please do more Herzog movies, possibly Fitzcaraldo (+ Burden of Dreams) combo, and others of his..... the dart board for that sounds good too. Will you guys do any Bergman, Truffaut, Godard movies? Thanks and keep up the good work

[@OneFuckingHour]

Yes eventually!

[@jrhusney]

Marcus sporting the deep V this week!

[@rachellleeroth]

That was probably "the most photographed Indian" as he was called. A peculiar tourist novelty that I'm pretty sure does not exist anymore but I remember seeing him as a teenager

[@Sam-lm8gi]

Whoa, you guys really know your stuff! This just became my new favorite film podcast (along with Pure Cinema). I just re-watched this film for the first time since like 2005/2006, and it's so much better than I remembered. What a killer ending. Also, as you pointed out, he re-used the harmonica song from this film in "Bad Lieutenant." But I noticed he re-used yet another bit in "Queen of the Desert": the line of dialog where one of the thug characters says to Eva, "If you cry a lot, it means you have to pee less." A very similar line is spoken by Nicole Kidman's uncle in the foresaid film. It would seem this movie is very close to Werner Herzog's heart, since he still recycles from it all these decades later. And you're so right about Herzog's filmography being so wildly, singularly diverse, and yet somehow tonally consistent. His films are simultaneously full of the silliest subjects (midgets, chickens, and fart jokes abound) and the most serious subjects (death row inmates, mummified corpses, deaf-blind people, etc.), and yet he can somehow balance them all together, and there's a razor thin line between his "documentaries" and his "fictional" films. The man is in a league of his own!