Having seen and appreciated all of Werner Herzog's fictional works prior to seeing this, I looked forward to finally seeing his first, full commercial feature.
This is a short story about a trio of men, and one woman, who are brought together on the Greek island of Kos, near Turkey, during the Second World War. One of the men is wounded soldier Stroszek (Brogle), a recent arrival at Kos. Shortly after he has recovered, he's allowed to marry a local Greek woman Nora (Zacharoppoulou), and both settle down to living in a small house within a 14th century bastion, part of which has a Greek ammunition depot. With them are two other soldiers; and all three men are assigned to guard the depot which contains tons of explosives and ammunition, the latter however being unsuitable for German weapons.
We see all the above, with quick cuts and voice-over narration by Herzog, in the few minutes after the grand opening scene, accompanied by the theme music (from Stavros Xarhakos) permeating most of the story. It's hot on this island of Kos, even German guards faint in the heat. The sun is blinding; the heat palpably visible on sweaty faces. Nothing much even moves.
Now Stroszek, we learn, is a misfit, a romantic, and an adventurer. Guarding the depot is a joke: there is only one entrance to the whole fort and that stays locked all the time. Balding Meinhard (Reichmann) busies himself with practical matters: building a cockroach trap, fishing, pondering the nature of oil, and other trivialities. Younger Becker (Ungern-Sternberg) is more academic, translating ancient texts carved into and around the whole fortress. All of them begin repainting doors etc., even though that's quite unnecessary. And all of them begin making fireworks from materials found in the depot. Various locals (a wandering gypsy king, a virtuoso piano player, children playing) provide Stroszk with some distraction and interest; still, he just mopes about with Nora, the boredom and inactivity becoming more oppressive for him. In desperation one day, he asks the Captain (Stumpf) if he can go out on patrol across the island.
So, with Meinhard accompanying, the two set out, eventually reaching a spot in the mountains where they come upon a seemingly unending panoply of quickly spinning windmills, the sight of which causes Stroszek to snap: wildly, he shows his quixotic side by shooting at them until Meinhard stops him. Shortly after, while having a meal together, Stroszek finds out that Meinhard reported the shooting incident to the Captain.
Stroszek goes berserk, smashing table, chairs and chasing the two men and Nora around the fortress with his rifle, shooting towards them but not actually hurting anybody. While they exit the castle, he then runs about the battlements screaming at everybody and the world in general, threatening to shoot anybody who tries to enter and also threatening to blow up the explosives depot. Because Stroszek has a plan....
So also the Captain, who orders three assault teams of army veterans to scale the walls and subdue the deranged man. As the teams begin their operation, so does Stroszek start his. While the sun sets, and with his white flag proudly fluttering at top of pole, he begins a grandly, magnificently ineffective effort, the like of which we'll never see again.
This movie, like others (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, Fata Morgana et al) from Herzog, is simply unforgettable. Heightened by the hauntingly elegiac theme that infuses the sound track, this is for me, one of the saddest movies I've seen. (As an aside, while savoring that music, I realized that, in Lynch's Wild at Heart, one of its instrumentals - Wicked Game - bears an uncanny similarity to the theme here.)
The only fault - if it is - with this production is the speed and jerkiness of the many and frequent cuts throughout the film. But, hey, only a small handheld camera was used throughout....
Give this nine out of ten, for sure. Recommended for all.
August 26, 2019
This is a short story about a trio of men, and one woman, who are brought together on the Greek island of Kos, near Turkey, during the Second World War. One of the men is wounded soldier Stroszek (Brogle), a recent arrival at Kos. Shortly after he has recovered, he's allowed to marry a local Greek woman Nora (Zacharoppoulou), and both settle down to living in a small house within a 14th century bastion, part of which has a Greek ammunition depot. With them are two other soldiers; and all three men are assigned to guard the depot which contains tons of explosives and ammunition, the latter however being unsuitable for German weapons.
We see all the above, with quick cuts and voice-over narration by Herzog, in the few minutes after the grand opening scene, accompanied by the theme music (from Stavros Xarhakos) permeating most of the story. It's hot on this island of Kos, even German guards faint in the heat. The sun is blinding; the heat palpably visible on sweaty faces. Nothing much even moves.
Now Stroszek, we learn, is a misfit, a romantic, and an adventurer. Guarding the depot is a joke: there is only one entrance to the whole fort and that stays locked all the time. Balding Meinhard (Reichmann) busies himself with practical matters: building a cockroach trap, fishing, pondering the nature of oil, and other trivialities. Younger Becker (Ungern-Sternberg) is more academic, translating ancient texts carved into and around the whole fortress. All of them begin repainting doors etc., even though that's quite unnecessary. And all of them begin making fireworks from materials found in the depot. Various locals (a wandering gypsy king, a virtuoso piano player, children playing) provide Stroszk with some distraction and interest; still, he just mopes about with Nora, the boredom and inactivity becoming more oppressive for him. In desperation one day, he asks the Captain (Stumpf) if he can go out on patrol across the island.
So, with Meinhard accompanying, the two set out, eventually reaching a spot in the mountains where they come upon a seemingly unending panoply of quickly spinning windmills, the sight of which causes Stroszek to snap: wildly, he shows his quixotic side by shooting at them until Meinhard stops him. Shortly after, while having a meal together, Stroszek finds out that Meinhard reported the shooting incident to the Captain.
Stroszek goes berserk, smashing table, chairs and chasing the two men and Nora around the fortress with his rifle, shooting towards them but not actually hurting anybody. While they exit the castle, he then runs about the battlements screaming at everybody and the world in general, threatening to shoot anybody who tries to enter and also threatening to blow up the explosives depot. Because Stroszek has a plan....
So also the Captain, who orders three assault teams of army veterans to scale the walls and subdue the deranged man. As the teams begin their operation, so does Stroszek start his. While the sun sets, and with his white flag proudly fluttering at top of pole, he begins a grandly, magnificently ineffective effort, the like of which we'll never see again.
This movie, like others (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, Fata Morgana et al) from Herzog, is simply unforgettable. Heightened by the hauntingly elegiac theme that infuses the sound track, this is for me, one of the saddest movies I've seen. (As an aside, while savoring that music, I realized that, in Lynch's Wild at Heart, one of its instrumentals - Wicked Game - bears an uncanny similarity to the theme here.)
The only fault - if it is - with this production is the speed and jerkiness of the many and frequent cuts throughout the film. But, hey, only a small handheld camera was used throughout....
Give this nine out of ten, for sure. Recommended for all.
August 26, 2019