Netflix

Stroszek, a German soldier, is wounded in the head in Greece. Near death, he is taken into the care of a local nurse named Nora, and marries her when healed. They are re-located to Crete where easy duty guarding a munitions dump in an old fortress will allow Stroszek time to recuperate.

But the walls of the fortress imprison Stroszek, whose recuperation is entirely physical. The maddening and endlessly cyclical behavior of fish and cockroaches and chickens frustrates him. The odd contradictory thoughts of his comrades annoy him. His wife's intelligence and love drive him batty. He goes mad after shooting at a field of windmills and dreams of blotting out the sun with a barrage of hand-made rockets.

Stroszek is an earth-bound Icarus, but Herzog's camera swoops joyfully close to the sun. A beautifully rendered masterpiece, and a stunning first film.