Werner Herzog in Plainfield, Wisconsin



The mythic portrayal of Wisconsin in Werner Herzog’s Stroczek (1977) communicates German the filmmaker's ruminations on solitude, pain and extreme landscapes that mirror an inner state. Shot in Berlin and Plainfield, the film critiques the delusion of the American Dream. By dwelling on the excruciating details of a mobile home auction framed by the cold brown November landscape of central Wisconsin, we see the shivering resolve of the locals and the heartlessness of the bankers. Beer soaked, Stroczek gets the news that his home will be repossessed as the temperatures plummet. Wisconsin locals clad in plaid and orange hunting regalia shuffle their feet to keep warm as the auctioneer disposes of Stroczek's TV and the contents of his dream home.

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