Rent The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

A very moving and enigmatic film - The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser review by FM

This came highly recommended. The whole film is an enigma as well as the main character. There are some delightful caricatures but no real 'bad' characters. The story is poignant and generally unresolved

Fascinating and Unsettling Film - The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser review by griggs

Herzog’s The Enigma of Kasper Hauser is a fascinating, sometimes unsettling film, full of moments of raw human connection. It makes you question whether ignorance is a gentler state than the burden of knowledge. Non-actor Bruno S., institutionalised from a young age, brings an authenticity that makes his performance deeply affecting. His own life story, being institutionalised from a young age, mirrors Kasper’s isolation, making Herzog’s choice to cast him feel almost inevitable. His presence is both haunting and moving, a perfect fit for Herzog’s style. It’s no surprise the director later created Stroszek for him, further exploring his unique, otherworldly quality.

Historical Curiosity. - The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser review by Steve

Typically offbeat historical meditation from Werner Herzog based on the true story of the title character who emerges as a teenager in Nuremberg in 1928 apparently having grown up in isolation without education. For a while he is exploited as a circus freak and then more comfortably housed for academic curiosity.

It’s a scenario which feels too good to be true for the philosophers of identity who followed John Locke. And Herzog lightly reflects on themes of learning, and nature vs. nurture. It is a mesmerising and imaginative recreation of period which continually strays into the out of focus and the folkloric.

Curiously, the camera is absolutely static and we see long unbroken edits like watching figures moving within a painting of rural German Romanticism. But strangest of all is the eccentric performance of Bruno S.- a non-professional actor with personal experience of institutionalisation... Though he’s 20 years too old.

There’s a striking support cast mostly chosen for their interesting faces. It’s an outré comedy of manners which imagines the impact of the foundling within all levels of community; there is plenty of dry humour within the absurd situations. This is poetic realism and another idiosyncratic and hallucinatory vision from peak-period Herzog.