MovieChat Forums > Stroszek (1977) Discussion > My take on the ending- major spoilers

My take on the ending- major spoilers

posted 19 years ago by juanathan
43 replies | jump to latest

I have watched the film twice. The first time I watched I was a bit bewildered about it and I really did not know what to think of it. The second time I watched I finally realized what it was. A masterpiece. Both times I watched it the ending really stuck out and I found it extremly powerful.

Before I begin my analysis I have to say this movie for some reason reminded me of Lars von Trier's Dogville. I guess they both seem similar because they are both trying to debunk myths about the American culture.

So on with my interpretation. I believe this ending was supposed to be Thanksgiving. There are many things that show it. Cherokee Indinas are present. Who can forget the frozen turkey that Bruno holds till his death(I interpreted that he killed himself)?One of the greatest American pastimes is having Thanksgiving and one of the greatest accomplishments is bringing home a turkey to your family to eat and you will all be happy. Stroszek has lost his so called family, Eva and Mr. Scheitz, for various reasons. I believe Bruno going up on the ski lift is forshadowing him going up to heaven and that the turkey is the American dream( IF YOU WORK HARD ENOUGH YOUR LIFE WILL BE PLEASURABLE). The only way he will achieve this dream is by killing himself and he will only be happy in death. I thought another sad truth in this film is that even though he moved from Germany to America and he still could not find happiness and that some people wherever they go in this world cannot fuction. As you see the truck burning and as the camera follows the smoke, it is almost completly in sync with how the ski left is going up the mountain bringing both Stroszek and the turkey (the American dream) to their death. I thought the animals were supposed to be mocking the American dream. You see all the animals doing their little jobs like they are supposed but they still get nowhere. I think the car going around in circles recalls a line from the beginning saying something along the lines how life goes around in cirlces and that if Stroszek got caught and thrown in jail his life would just go around in antoher circle. When the truck finally breaks down and goes on fire, he has refused to make his life go around in antoher circle.

Thank you. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I really want to hear other people's interpretations.

[–] raintothesoundofpanic 17 years ago

a vehicle with nobody at the wheel goes around and around.

if you are even a little bit familiar with buddhism, that will make a lot of sense.

rather be forgotten than remembered for giving in.

[–] YesYesNo 17 years ago

By it's very definition, Herzog's so called 'ecstatic truth' (a recurring theme/device in his films) is composed of absurdist, metaphoric imagery woven organically into the context of the film, which has no strict, intended meaning, but plenty of evocative and suggestive potential. Another example would be the boat in the tree in Aguirre: Wrath of God. You can certainly try to pick it apart, but by doing so you risk chopping up the film into a series of concepts and symbols, which is definitely not what Herzog has in mind when he made it.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] crrst7 17 years ago

I agree with some of what you say,i do agree that this is not anti america or american culture by any means. And i also strongly agree that Stroszek did nothing to achieve his happiness that he was blindly in search for. However- This is the entire point of the film...that is, perhaps Stroszek is not the idiot, maybe we're all idiots. We're the chickens, dancing for no reason, no promise of a payoff in the end, no rhyme or reason for any of our daily routine, other than to achieve the "american dream". Stroszeks suicide was not cowardice by any regard, however it was his means to the end of a stupid process he couldn't understand.
This process is the painful journy of "existence".

"I'm nostalgic for conversations i had yesterday."- Kicking and Screaming" (Baumbach)

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] sc551505 15 years ago

Great interpretation. This film consumed me for nearly an entire week upon watching it for the first time and it seemingly pops up in my mind quite a bit. It's been months since I've watched it, but...

I feel that the part at the end with his truck going in circles and him leaving it, was meant to bring viewers back to the part towards the middle of the film when he says something that questions the fate of his belongings upon his death. Also, on your interpretation of the final scene on the ski lift, I feel that it was meant to represent someone spinning out of control as the ski lift runs in circles (think of a shot-putter spinning quickly, building to the release). The truck and the ski lift gave me that opinion. The animals, however, represent stroszek as a member of society, in my opinion; he works for what he needs even though it makes him feel like just another puppet, and he is never satisfied.

I love how it is quite easy to relate with stroszek throughout the film due to his naive characteristics. And I love how his naive characteristics can be realized by recognition of the fact that he has been imprisoned in past years. In other words, his imprisonment has almost purified him. Great film. One of my favorites.

[–] raul_7 15 years ago

Hmm, I think all that matters is that one makes an interpretation and leaves it at that.
I thought the car spinning and the animal circus/farm was somewhat related, subconsciously.
Also, (I saw the film for the first time yday) I think Bruno hasn't shot himself, i mean what proof is there...
Theres the sound of the bang, but then it switches our attention to the car which has blown up and on fire which brought the police.

I thought the bank robbery, followed by the shopping trip was absurdly hilarious!
One of a special few films that still exist.

[–] ram-30 15 years ago

The turkey would represent the First Thanksgiving, the symbol of Europeans taking over the Native American's land. The ending of the film is set on Indian land. Here the once proud people are forced into tourism parodies of themselves. Like the Native Americans, Stroszek himself is forced from his home and seems to be at a quandary why this has happened.

Herzog's debunking of the American Dream reinforces the fact that it is the European Dream of Manifest Destiny at the expense of the Native American people.

"A fool and his money soon party!"

[–] chouette69 15 years ago

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." (apocryphal Freud)
"The sky is blue. The water is clear" (Zen teaching)

Sometimes frozen turkeys, 1970s farm-town America's "Indian" tourist traps, shotguns, reposessions, ski lifts, and dancing chickens just are what they are.

[–] Dondi0 9 years ago

And sometimes they're more.
Like when they form part of an extended tableau. Spinning driverless trucks that eventually catch fire, coin operated pointlessly performing animals, bright orange Indian chiefs standing in a car park, an endlessly circling out of season ski lift containing a directionless immigrant carrying a shotgun and a turkey in an obviously native American area...

Jeez. Could it be any more obvious...?

[–] arik-16 14 years ago

The dancing chicken is a kind of metaphor of the American dream. This chicken escapes the slaughter by dancing on command. For a chicken, he's a success!
This, and the car, I took as symbols of futility. Life--even the so-called good life-- is full of endless suffering. And the American dream is the pursuit of said life. It does have strong Buddhist sentiment as someone earlier said: Bruno shoots himself, and the circling car comes to a halt.

The ending--with the turkey, the Indians, symbolizing those first puritans coming to America, bringing their protestant ethic and ultimately setting the tone for what America would become.