The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

Description

With the success of Aguirre, Herzog was now a worldwide phenomenon. Using his incredible talent to examine human emotion through historical figures, Herzog next created a film based on events so strange, it seems like a work of pure fiction! The Enigma of Kasper Hauser follows the story of a man imprisoned in a basement dungeon for the first seventeen years of his life, devoid of human contact until his captor suddenly drops him off in the town of Nuremberg. Unable to talk, barely able to walk, Hauser frightens the townspeople with the strange behaviors and until he’s rescued by a man whose attempts to teach and reintegrate him into society result in a fascinating look at the resilience of the human mind. Enigma stays relatively true to the real account of Kasper Hauser, using letters that Hauser wrote in his later life to inform the events of the story. To play the role of Kasper, Herzog did not want an actor who would simply play an interpretation of madness. Instead, he cast Bruno S., a street musician who had spent much of his life in various mental institutions. Bruno's genuine portrayal of Kasper is at once gripping and authentic. As he had with Lands of Silence and Darkness, Herzog avoided analytical approach in the telling of this bizarre story and instead, focused on the sympathetic struggles of a man lost in the company of men. Upon its release, Enigma was a triumph with audiences and critics alike. The film won the Grand Jury Prize, the Critic's Prize and the Ecumenical Prize at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, and became one of Herzog’s most well-known and beloved films.