
            Just released from a jail term of 2 1/2 years in Berlin, Bruno Stroszek goes through all of the formalities of being released and is given back all of his personal belongings: one sweater, one shirt, a pair of pants, a pair of socks, an accordion, five packs of cigarettes, a bugle horn, a keychain and his passport. Back in his cell, he bids farewell to his cellmates and they exchange gifts. One makes for him the smallest paper ship in the world and the other sets his flatulence ablaze. He then meets with the warden, who asks him if he has a place to live now that he is free, to which Bruno replies that his apartment had been taken care of by his neighbour, Herr Scheitz. He is then asked whether or not he'll go back to consuming alcohol since all of his past offences had been alcohol-related and that if he were to be caught again for similar crimes, that he'd be locked away for a longer period of time. Bruno seems uninterested and is then recommended that he clean himself up and once again, to stay away from bars and alcohol. He finally promises and is subsequently released.During his walk home, he stops at a bar called 'Bier Himmel' (Beer Heaven) and orders a beer. As he walks to sit at a booth, he sees his friend Eva, a prostitute. He attempts greeting her but is told to leave her alone by her pimps who were there trying to extort money from a former client of Eva's. She then starts crying on one of the pimps, telling him she doesn't want to be with any other pimp. He stands up and slaps her across the face, to which Eva starts crying and walks away towards where Bruno is sitting. He tells her to sit with him and tries to reassure her that everything will be OK. Eva asks him where he had been, to which Bruno responded: 'vacation'. She is still distraught and asks herself 'what she's going to do' and 'where she's going to go', to which Bruno responds by telling her she can stay at his apartment and that they can both start new lives together.As she sets up her belongings, Bruno is playing his pianos to see if they are still in good condition after not being played for so long. His favorite piano is a black grand piano he calls 'Schwarze Freund' (black friend). They notice how the apartment is dirty and Eva says she'd take care of everything by earning money. Bruno's neighbour, Herr Scheitz, arrives with his minah bird he had been taking care of in his absence. He then tells Bruno and Eva of his plans to move to America and stay with his nephew - but by ship, since according to Scheitz, airplanes are not built correctly. In the next scene, Bruno goes back to his ritualistic ways of playing his accordion in an alleyway to an audience of mostly children. When he arrives at his apartment, he sees Eva's pimps waiting for him outside his door and leaves running the opposite way. He finds Eva at a restaurant with her pimps and is quickly kicked out. He retreats back to his apartment and talks to Scheitz about what is happening with Eva, when at that moment, the pimps are dragging her up the stairs and into the living room, dump trash on her and break one of Bruno's accordions. Bruno helps her get up and into bed.The next day, Bruno is out buying some fruits and sees that the pimps are watching him, from whom he instantly runs away. While playing his piano at home, the pimps walk in and start harassing him. Now himself being distraught from the constant trouble the pimps are making, he sees his doctor and asks him for advice since he can't defend himself. The doctor tells him he should start off by getting a steady job and then takes him to the premature baby ward in order to further explain the concept of life and its many unanswered questions. He used a premature baby to symbolize how he could barely survive on his own but had such strong grip reflexes although considered weak.Back at the apartment, Scheitz is waiting for him to arrive and shows him what the pimps had done to Eva, which was to once again physically abuse her. Bruno asks her if she wants him to call the police to report it only to be told no and how they need to escape the whole mess. They decide to go with Scheitz to America and finance the tickets/Visas by Eva earning more money by selling her body a few more times. Scheitz reports back to them and informs Bruno that he can work as a mechanic at his nephew's auto shop and that Eva can work at a nearby restaurant at a truck stop.They arrive in America and Bruno's bird Beo gets confiscated by customs, to which he asks Eva and Scheitz: What kind of country is this that they take away my Beo? After a little sightseeing in New York, they purchase a used car and drive out to Railroad Flats, Wisconsin. When they arrive, Scheitz's nephew, Clayton, greets them with a misspelled sign in German, saying: Welcome. Meet & Greet time is followed by picture-taking and they learn how Clayton was once stationed at the US Air Force base in Ramstein. They get a short tour of the town by Clayton and are then told by him about the mysterious disappearance of a farmer who drove out into the woods on his large tractor never to be found again. He claims the wreckage is probably underwater in one of the nearby lakes and periodically searches for it with a metal detector when they're frozen over.Once settled in, they learn about the situation between two farmers nearby that patrol a stretch of land labeled: no-mans land and are told to stay away since both carry rifles and could potentially start firing at each other at any moment. The pre-fabricated house they had ordered arrives and is fully furnished. Scheitz is then seen outside performing electro-magnetic experiments on a fence and then on 2 American hunters on the side of the road- in German- to which of course they don't understand. He then tells Bruno and Eva about his animal magnetism theory and performs his testing on their skin. In the next scene, they are all seen on and around a frozen lake with a metal detector in their search for the lost tractor.Realizing that theyre falling behind on paying all of their bills, Bruno and Eva discuss this, to which Eva tells Bruno not to worry because she could take care of everything. She accomplishes this by sleeping with truckers that stop by her work. Soon after, theyre visited by a bank representative who informs them of their lack of payments and the possibility of repossessions if they continue to not pay. Eva hands him a wad of cash and is asked by Bruno how she had made so much money in that little time. In the next scene, Bruno shows Eva a model/schematic of his state of mind (which appears to be wood or metal that is intertwined). He tells her how their goals in the US cant be reached because he saw America as an opportunity to get rich quick. He also points out that shes acting differently around him, primarily by not letting him sleep in the same bedroom, it feels like prison he says, like a cage. At work, Clayton is making sexually suggestive comments about Eva and Bruno says he was better off in Germany and that he shouldn't have come to America to watch his world fall apart.The next day, Eva is with some truckers once again as Bruno looks for her at the restaurant. Not being able to find her there, he then tries searching around where the trucks are parked. He finds Eva in a truck with 2 truckers and is told to leave because she was going to Vancouver with them. Drinking his sorrows away at home, Bruno is once again visited by the bank representative and is told that the bank has to repossess everything and signs the house away. Soon after, the bank rep and an auctioneer arrive at the house and auction it off. Scheitz claims it is all a conspiracy and goes to the bank the next day with Bruno and a shotgun. Because the bank was closed, they enter a door next to it which happened to be for a barber. They take all of his money, twenty-five dollars, and walk across the street to a market to buy food. Once inside, the police arrive and arrest Scheitz, leaving Bruno and a frozen turkey he had just bought. He then drives back to Claytons house and leaves with his tow-truck, the frozen turkey, some cans of beer, and the shotgun.He drives until an engine fire starts in the truck at a diner. Once there, he stops to get a coffee with his last $3 and tells an American businessman who can speak some German all about his troubles and is told by him not to worry. When he leaves, he puts the truck in drive and leaves it driving itself in circles outside of the restaurant, and takes his gun and frozen turkey across the street to what seems to be some sort of mini animal amusement park. Inside are coin-operated machines which feature animals performing different things like one chicken dancing, one playing a piano, and a rabbit fire truck rider. Bruno starts some of them with the last of his change and then goes to the back of the facility, which has a chairlift. He turns it on and rides up the side of the mountain. At the second ascent, the frame of the camera shifts up, not being able to see Bruno any longer. At that moment, a loud noise is heard which is unclear where it comes from.Its been said that the noise is either from the sound of his shotgun from his suicide or the tow-trucks engine exploding. At the end of the movie, police are on the street and are reporting back to their headquarters stating: We've got a truck on fire, can't find the switch to turn the ski lift off, and can't stop the dancing chicken. Send an electrician.
    

Wilhelm von Homburg

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