If Werner Herzog's Stroszek is a ballad, it digs deep into the etymology of the word, a word that indicates a lyric we dance to. Not only do the characters dance to the ballad at one point, but infamously, so does a chicken. Stroszek is also a ballad in the sense of a being a lyric of the people, at the very least since many of the characters in the film are not professional actors.
What makes this film a compelling ballad is twofold. First, there is a distancing effect, which puts the ordinary in unfamiliar circumstances in order to gain perspective as Brecht would have it. Secondly, there is the rich identification between the director and his audience, where "identification" indicates the combined effects of ethos and pathos as Burke would have it.
The distancing effect is easy to decipher. Bruno (Bruno S.), Eva (Eva Mattes), and Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz) start out in Berlin. Bruno has just been released from a mental institution, Eva has just decided to leave her pimps, and Scheitz is an eccentric old man with an offer to move to Wisconsin. The three take the offer to move and are defamiliarized in the new setting. They have gone from an awkward bunch to a really awkward bunch via circumstance.
Bruno is the one who explains it though, as if the audience has not already noticed. He self-consciously describes the difference between a not so distant Germany with a present America. Eva says, "No one kicks you here Bruno," to which Bruno replies, "Not physically, here they do it spiritually." In another scene, the difference is yet more pronounced. Working in the auto shop, Bruno's boss is describing sexual acts while Bruno is contemplating his own misery. As they talk past each other as if the other could understand them, Bruno is clearly in a place that his utterances are not even capable of being overheard.
Herzog does not pursue the distancing effect without a great deal of pathos, however. Sure, Bruno is unfairly treated when the German pimps have him kneel on his own piano. One cannot help but feel bad for Eva even when she is running away from Wisconsin with two truckers headed to Vancouver. Scheitz is eccentric, but also a helpless old man.
Ethos is more difficult to examine, but hardly. Bruno is described as an "innocent," in many reviews; a mark of pathos. But when he is wrong, we cannot blame someone so full of goodwill, which is a mark of his ethos. Eva leaves Bruno alone, but she never means harm, and Scheitz holds up a barber with Bruno, but is a compassionate being on the whole. Both are also marks of ethos.
Herzog's use of ethos and pathos goes the extra mile, though. When the audience sees Bruno being taken advantage of, but still able to speak with conviction on the differences between Germany and Wisconsin, they see someone who may be speaking for them. Bruno is speaking for those who strangely enough, feel most alone surrounded at a party. And while a critic may not identify with Bruno, Herzog is seeking such an audience through Bruno. He is seeking an identification with the lonely rather than the critic who still may be wondering whether defamiliarization contradicts identification, unable to dance to a ballad.
IMDb rates this film 8 stars out of 10
Film 101 rates this film 4 stars out of 5
Roger Ebert includes this film on his list of Great Movies
Bruno is the one who explains it though, as if the audience has not already noticed. He self-consciously describes the difference between a not so distant Germany with a present America. Eva says, "No one kicks you here Bruno," to which Bruno replies, "Not physically, here they do it spiritually." In another scene, the difference is yet more pronounced. Working in the auto shop, Bruno's boss is describing sexual acts while Bruno is contemplating his own misery. As they talk past each other as if the other could understand them, Bruno is clearly in a place that his utterances are not even capable of being overheard.
Herzog does not pursue the distancing effect without a great deal of pathos, however. Sure, Bruno is unfairly treated when the German pimps have him kneel on his own piano. One cannot help but feel bad for Eva even when she is running away from Wisconsin with two truckers headed to Vancouver. Scheitz is eccentric, but also a helpless old man.
Ethos is more difficult to examine, but hardly. Bruno is described as an "innocent," in many reviews; a mark of pathos. But when he is wrong, we cannot blame someone so full of goodwill, which is a mark of his ethos. Eva leaves Bruno alone, but she never means harm, and Scheitz holds up a barber with Bruno, but is a compassionate being on the whole. Both are also marks of ethos.
Herzog's use of ethos and pathos goes the extra mile, though. When the audience sees Bruno being taken advantage of, but still able to speak with conviction on the differences between Germany and Wisconsin, they see someone who may be speaking for them. Bruno is speaking for those who strangely enough, feel most alone surrounded at a party. And while a critic may not identify with Bruno, Herzog is seeking such an audience through Bruno. He is seeking an identification with the lonely rather than the critic who still may be wondering whether defamiliarization contradicts identification, unable to dance to a ballad.
IMDb rates this film 8 stars out of 10
Film 101 rates this film 4 stars out of 5
Roger Ebert includes this film on his list of Great Movies
