Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck and they join his neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.
Acting
Bruno S.—the real deal, Herzog's muse, heartbreaking authenticity.
Direction
Herzog's controlled chaos finds poetry in humiliation.
Cinematography
American Midwest as alien landscape—beautiful and cruel.
Director
Werner Herzog
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bruno S. was a real street musician and ex-psychiatric patient; Herzog cast him after seeing him in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.
The 'dancing chicken' sequence became legendary—Herzog later claimed the scene predicted the 2008 financial crash.
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