The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (German: Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle; lit. Every Man for Himself and God Against All) is a 1974 West German drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog. The film features actors Bruno S. and Walter Ladengast. It tells the true story of Kaspar Hauser, a child who was found as a baby, and uses letters that were discovered with him.

Plot

The film tells the story of Kaspar Hauser, who spent the first seventeen years of his life locked in a small cellar. He had no human contact except for a man in a black overcoat and top hat, who gave him food.

In 1828, the same man took Hauser out of the cellar. He taught him a few words, how to walk, and then left him in the town of Nuremberg. People became curious about Hauser, and he was shown in a circus. Later, Professor Georg Friedrich Daumer helped him learn to read and write. Hauser developed unusual ideas about logic and religion, but he especially enjoyed music. Scholars, religious leaders, and important people began to notice him. Then, the same unknown man attacked him, causing him to lose consciousness with a bleeding head. After recovering, Hauser was attacked again, this time with a knife to his chest.

Before dying, Hauser described dreams of nomadic Berbers in the Sahara. An autopsy showed that his liver and cerebellum were larger than normal.

Cast

The casting and character names come from the submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

Production

Herzog has said that the film's title (in German: Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle) was inspired by a sentence from the novel Macunaíma by Brazilian writer Mário de Andrade.

The film closely follows the true story of Kaspar Hauser. It uses letters that were actually found with Hauser and includes many details from the beginning of his time in confinement and his release. The characters of Professor Daumer and Lord Stanhope are based on real people: Georg Friedrich Daumer and Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope, respectively.

An English version of the film's screenplay was published in 1980 by Tanam Press.

Herzog found the lead actor, Bruno Schleinstein, in a documentary about street musicians titled Bruno der Schwarze, es blies ein Jäger wohl in sein Horn (translated as Bruno the Black One, A Hunter Blows His Horn). Impressed by Schleinstein, Herzog cast him in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, even though Schleinstein had no acting experience. The real Kaspar Hauser was 17 when he was found in Nuremberg, and the film shows this. Schleinstein was 41 years old when the film was made, but his character is shown as a young person throughout the movie. Schleinstein's life had some similarities to Hauser's, and his unusual personality often showed on set. In a commentary for the English-language DVD version, Herzog said that Schleinstein wore his costume for the entire time of the production, even after filming ended for the day. Herzog once visited Schleinstein in his hotel room and found him sleeping on the floor by the door, still in his costume. Schleinstein was listed in the film credits as "Bruno S." Herzog later included Schleinstein in the screenplay for another film, Stroszek (1977).

The production designer for the film was Henning von Gierke. The costume designers were Ann Poppel and Gisela Storch.

Outdoor scenes were filmed in the town of Dinkelsbühl and on a nearby mountain named Hesselberg.

The music includes pieces by several well-known composers.

Reception

In 2005, critic Walter Chaw described the film as "a strange, brave performance in a story that does not follow a traditional order, filled with unusual images and quiet moments that show deep, scary ideas." He added, "The director’s strong connection to a child in 19th century Germany who suddenly appeared in a town square after spending his entire life locked in a basement dungeon shows Herzog’s sense of being separate from intellectual, artistic, and social groups." In 2007, critic Roger Ebert wrote a review of the film, which he had included in his list of "Great Movies." He said, "Herzog often blurs the line between real events and made-up stories. He does not focus on being accurate but instead on creating powerful, moving experiences."

In 2001, Maria Racheva wrote, "Herzog, unlike François Truffaut in The Wild Child, is not interested in showing the difficult process of adjusting to normal life. The character Kaspar has a unique way of thinking where natural laws are important, and the rules of society feel strange and uncomfortable to him, like the black dinner jacket he must wear. His communication problems are not because of language difficulties but because he is simply 'different' from others. This is why Herzog seems to want us to believe that, even though it seems random, the character’s early isolation and sudden death make sense. This story sounds like a fairy tale—and it is. Many of Herzog’s films feel like fables, and that is one reason they are successful."

On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 92% score based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7 out of 10.

In 2017, David Fear and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine wrote, "Based on the true story of a young man who lived for 17 years in a small room and then became famous when he left his home, Herzog’s film would have been unusual enough. However, Herzog made it even more unique by casting a 41-year-old street musician named Bruno S., who had spent years in and out of mental institutions and had no acting experience. The result is one of Herzog’s most unusual and touching performances—part innocent, part unusual, and completely surprising. A bold experiment that succeeded well."

The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, which is the second-highest award given to films in competition at the festival (the highest is the Palme d'Or). It also won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize. The film received two German Film Awards: one for Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus for editing and one for Henning von Gierke for set design. Herzog won the Silver Film Band (Filmband in Silber), the only award given in the category "Feature Film Direction" (programmfüllender Spielfilm (Gestaltung)), which included a large cash prize. The film was entered as the West German submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 48th Academy Awards but was not nominated.

Home media

The movie The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser was made available on region 1 DVD in 2002. It was later part of a Blu-ray (region-A) collection of films by director Werner Herzog, which was released in the United States in 2014 by Shout Factory. A region-B Blu-ray collection featuring the film was also released in the United Kingdom in 2014 by the British Film Institute (BFI). The film was originally released in 1993 on a VHS tape with the English title The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser.