Watch The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser For Free

Don't Believe the Hype

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Who else other than Werner Herzog should make the film about the incredible story of Kaspar Hauser? Set in the city of Nuremberg in the state of Bavaria in southeastern Germany in 1828, it tells the story of a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Herzog cast Bruno S., whom he also worked with later on in "Stroszek" (1977), to play Hauser. Bruno S., also having rather a special background and a somewhat odd appearance, works perfectly in the role, and director Herzog delivers an interesting, and strange, film.

"Jeder Für Sich und Gott Gegen Alle" or "The Enigma of Kasper Hauser" is a West German 110-minute movie from over 40 years ago. The writer and director is Werner Herzog (he was roughly 30 when he made this) and this is one of his 2 critically acclaimed films with Bruno S., who was (just like Kinski) Herzog's muse in the 1970s. Bruno S. was a man with the most uncommon and interesting vita. I will not go into detail here, but you can check this out for yourself. Other famous cast members here are Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira and Willy Semmelrogge (father of Martin). Kaspar Hauser is still a fairly famous name here in Germany and all we know is that he was a teenager apparently without any human contact in the first 16 years of his life when he appeared in Nuremberg in the 19th century. The exact details will probably always stay a mystery. But it was not Herzog's challenge here to shed light into that mystery, just to make audiences aware and give us his take on the tale.The movie that won big at Cannes, but managed to get an Oscar nomination despite being Germany's official submission, is a quite extraordinary piece. Bruno S. was so interesting to watch from start to finish and he is definitely the heart and should of the film. It is packed with symbolisms and metaphors, so I was a bit disappointed that I did not like the film as much as I hoped. This was already the second or third time I watched it and even if I would say 1974 was more Fassbinder's than Herzog's, this was still a pretty good watch. It is interesting how Hauser perceives things so differently and basically in a 100% factual manner that often seems much more correct than the way the other characters see these things, because their approaches are so clouded by their education, their experience and most of all their bias. Church and religion is a crucial aspect in here. Overall, this film is worth a watch for everybody who likes Werner Herzog's films, especially his earlier works. However, it may not be the best choice to start with Herzog's work. It really it a more distinguished, more challenging film of his. Thumbs up.

Herzog is a favorite of mine and I loved every quiet moment of this movie. The performance by Bruno S. is hypnotizing. The actor seems to be receiving a transmission as opposed to acting. The film embraces the myth of Kaspar Hauser and ignores findings suggesting that much of his story was impossible, or that he was regarded as a pathological liar and that several of the people who cared for him came to detest him, later testifying that they thought he was a con-man. Nonetheless, as often is the case with Herzog, he's more interested in the deeper truth of human existence than in the actual details of Hauser's case. He's obviously taken with the feral child concept and the idea of using it as a symbol of the individual against the collective, the uncivilized against the civilized. And though I'd love to see someone tell the "real" story of Hauser, this piece of cinema poetry, infused with just a hint of philosophical rage, is pitch-perfect in nailing its intent.

"Don't you hear all that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence?" Meet a young man who was abandoned from birth and grew up locked in a dark cellar without any human contact or external world. He can barely do simple things: speak, walk, eat or dress himself. He knows nothing about what we called human civilization. One fine day he was left abandoned in a town; with a letter in a hand he was standing like a statue unaware about his innocent role playing in the world full of smart, civilized people. I won't ruin the charm of this classic by saying more about the plot.In my experimental search of world cinema's auteur film makers, I would like to add the proud name of Werner Herzog and I must say I become fan of him after watching this gut wrenching film. It's such a unique humanitarian and adorable film and Herzog without sermonizing told the story through the eyes of innocent Kasper. Unlike many films dealing with such enigmatic mysteries, it does not even attempt to explain the central mystery, but rather to see the world through the point of view of its protagonist and we come to know what a cruel but beautiful world it is.Its revealing thing to know that the actor playing Kaspar Hauser, by almost a non professional actor named as Bruno S. was beaten by his prostitute mother when he was three in his real life, leaving him deaf and leading to his institutionalization, as a mental case, for a quarter-century. But Bruno S. is just striking one with all nuances and it's the finest natural act I've seen in a long run, and I doubt whether any trained actor could do justice to it. Even there is so touchy part about Kasper's being, his whole existence that frequently challenges the established social notions. Outwardly he may look like a savage or village idiot, but inside he is a soulful man of great tenderness and for us he's still big enigma and Herzog left it to audience's own interpretation like Reader Response Theory suggested by Allen Tate. Any fine day I would like to watch it again…and again…and again… For those who've enjoyed David Lynch's masterpiece 'The Elephant Man', it's mandatory watch. It's must for all who loves sensible, subtle cinema which introspects and boils many questions than feeds easy solutions or answers of enigma called humanity.Ratings- 10/10