Stroszek is now one of my favorite films.  Werner Herzog, for whom I named a squirrel stuffie, has always been one of my favorite directors.  His documentaries don't tell the "accountant's truth," as he says, they tell the ecstatic truth.  The same goes for his fictional works.  Although Stroszek is fiction, he mixed in elements of the main actor's life.  In a way, this movie is an emotional documentary of Bruno more than it is than a fictional story.

I learned so much watching the Herzog commentary.  The movie already moved me to the verge of tears, but after hearing him speak about the film, I now, just thinking about it, feel like I need to sob.

Herzog met Bruno while filming a documentary about mentally ill street people (if I'm remembering correctly). Herzog made a previous film with Bruno and then promised him that he could star in Woyzeck.  When Herzog gave the staring role to Kinski, he saw that he broke Bruno's heart and, in four days, he wrote the script for Stroszek.

The plot summary seems bare, but the movie is rich and textured.  Herzog deals with basic human needs and emotions with a light touch and subtlety that belies the heaviness of the subject.

Bruno most certainly has emotional issues, but I never once felt that he was being exploited for the movie - especially after hearing the commentary.  Bruno is portrayed as just about the only character in this fictional world who can see reality.  And, although I felt sorry for him because of his situation, I never felt embarrassed for him or protective of him ... unlike how I felt about Daniel Johnston's handling in The Devil in Daniel Johnston.

This movie makes me want to grab Andrew's hand and walk out the front door of our apartment and never look back - leave everything behind and live an anonymous life.  Seeing a Henry Darger exhibit also made me feel this way.  Inside both Henry and Bruno, there is a brilliant shining light that is uniquely their own.  Henry lived in obscurity his whole life, as would have Bruno if Herzog had not noticed his light.  Those are the people I want to be like.  I don't want to be Angelina Jolie, Bill Gates, or Oprah Winfrey ... I want to be the diamond-bright Alice that lives in the center of my chest. I question whether that is possible living so connected to the world around me.

In a million tiny ways I try to disentangle myself from the rest of the world, but it's not easy.

[photo taken 7/5/2007 in New York]