I've always enjoyed Herzog's humanism and here he doesn't pull any punches. When a trio of misfits tires of Germany and has their sights set on a fresh start in Wisconsin, you know it isn't going to work out. The prostitute tries to be a waitress, the fool tries to be a mechanic, and the old man...well, let's just say he has some wires crossed. No matter how much you think things will work out, you need realistic goals in the first place; all they did was carry their baggage with them to a new country. There is a lesson behind the dancing chicken, who doesn't even know why he does it or that it's supposed to be entertaining because he's acting on pure instinct, trapped in his little world behind glass where he performs some trick in exchange for food. I want to think that at the end, Bruno finally accepted his limitations as a human being. Like Bruno, most of us are just average.
