Stroszek

This is a movie about a small man lost in a vast, unfamiliar country. After being released from prison, Bruno Stroszek, a street musician and accordionist, decides to go to America with his ex-prostitute girlfriend and an elderly eccentric neighbor.

They all dream of a better life, but soon they come face to face with the real America, a place completely different from their dreams.

This film is one of many variations on an essential theme for Herzog: "a fool's battle against a vast and indifferent world." The lead role is played by self-taught musician Bruno S., for whom the script was specially written. He was born into a troubled family and spent most of his childhood and adolescence in psychiatric clinics, having firsthand knowledge of people with mental disorders. Herzog considered him to be his best actor.

"Stroszek" is one of Herzog's most poignant films. Following its viewing, a dark note emerged: it is known that this film was one of the last things Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis did before taking his own life.