Lebenszeichen (1968)

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Werner Herzog (writer)
Achim von Arnim (story)

Release Date:

December 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

On Crete, a wounded German paratrooper named Stroszek is sent to the quiet city of Kos with his wife Nora...

Plot Keywords:

WWII

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Peter Brogle	...	Stroszek
Wolfgang Reichmann	...	Meinhard
Athina Zacharopoulou	...	Nora
Wolfgang von Ungern-Sternberg	...	Becker
Wolfgang Stumpf	...	Captain
Henry van Lyck	...	Lieutenant
Julio Pinheiro	...	Gypsy
Florian Fricke	...	Pianist
Heinz Usener	...	Doctor
Achmed Hafiz	...	Greek resident
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jannakis Frasakis
Eleni Katerinaki
Werner Herzog	...	Soldat (uncredited)

Directed by
Werner Herzog

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Werner Herzog		writer
Achim von Arnim		story

Produced by
Werner Herzog	....	producer

Original Music by
Stavros Xarhakos

Cinematography by
Thomas Mauch

Film Editing by
Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus

Production Management
Nicholas Triandafyllidis	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Martje Grohmann	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Herbert Prasch	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Dietrich Lohmann	....	assistant camera
Bettina von Waldthausen	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Maximiliane Mainka	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Ina Fritsche	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Distributors

• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (Germany) (DVD)
• New Yorker Films (1981) (USA) (subtitled)
• New Yorker Video (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Feuerzeichen (West Germany) (working title)
Signs of Life

Runtime:

USA:91 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German | Greek

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | West Germany:6 (bw)

Company:

Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Trivia:

The screenplay is based on a story by (Ludwig) Achim von Arnim, which he wrote in 1818 and is called "Der tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau" (The Mad Invalid at Fort Rattoneau). Until 1997 it was the only story written by Arnim that was previously translated into English.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Portrait Werner Herzog (1986)

immersion

into a strange culture, in this case WW II German soldiers occupying a Greek island, three of them recuperating in an ancient fortress while a Nazi garrison is billeted in the town below. Herzog captures the exotic setting with brilliant photography, and at the same time the strangeness not only of culture clash but ultimately of the war itself. Intense Greek music on the soundtrack and the crystalline sunlight bring a sharp focus on the madness that comes to inhabit Stroszek's mind, the madness of seeing through what has been done in the name of the fatherland. Herzog's first major film is as political meditation as it is psychological travelogue.