In 1828 in Nuremberg, a young man is discovered who appears to have had no contact with other people and can only write his name - Kaspar Hauser. Adopted by the locals, he begins his education, but can he ever truly be a normal member of society ?
Based on a well-documented case, this is a charming, eerie, thoughtful little film about a man in extraordinary circumstances. Kaspar is the victim of a cruel fate which causes him to despair once he realises it, and yet at the same time he has a unique perspective, a way of seeing the world that no-one else can, typified by his response to the logician's story of the two villages. He is both helpless and peerless at the same time. Herzog fills the movie with dreamy images (a beautiful shot of a wheat field blowing in the wind with Pachelbel playing on the soundtrack) and grainy sequences representing Kaspar's dreams, elegantly conveying his mental state in purely visual terms. Perhaps his most inspired touch though is in casting Bruno S(chleinstein), a non-actor raised largely in mental institutions, who has more than a little kinship with the protagonist. He seems to embody Kaspar perfectly; his confusion, ideology, affection for nature. He never looks at anyone directly, and with his rustic features and small eyes permanently focused a few feet ahead of him, he gives a unique performance that no trained actor could deliver. Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein shoots the movie with wonderful style, capturing a tremendous early nineteenth-century look but adding many creative abstract shots, like the one of Kaspar watching his reflection in the water barrel. The film was made thirty-five years ago, but could just as easily have been made a hundred years ago. An intriguing tale of a lost childhood and a mysterious death. The English title is The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, although the German title literally translates as Everyone For Himself And God Against All.
Based on a well-documented case, this is a charming, eerie, thoughtful little film about a man in extraordinary circumstances. Kaspar is the victim of a cruel fate which causes him to despair once he realises it, and yet at the same time he has a unique perspective, a way of seeing the world that no-one else can, typified by his response to the logician's story of the two villages. He is both helpless and peerless at the same time. Herzog fills the movie with dreamy images (a beautiful shot of a wheat field blowing in the wind with Pachelbel playing on the soundtrack) and grainy sequences representing Kaspar's dreams, elegantly conveying his mental state in purely visual terms. Perhaps his most inspired touch though is in casting Bruno S(chleinstein), a non-actor raised largely in mental institutions, who has more than a little kinship with the protagonist. He seems to embody Kaspar perfectly; his confusion, ideology, affection for nature. He never looks at anyone directly, and with his rustic features and small eyes permanently focused a few feet ahead of him, he gives a unique performance that no trained actor could deliver. Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein shoots the movie with wonderful style, capturing a tremendous early nineteenth-century look but adding many creative abstract shots, like the one of Kaspar watching his reflection in the water barrel. The film was made thirty-five years ago, but could just as easily have been made a hundred years ago. An intriguing tale of a lost childhood and a mysterious death. The English title is The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, although the German title literally translates as Everyone For Himself And God Against All.