An unkempt foundling is found in Nuremberg on Whitsunday in 1828. The boy had been chained to a wall in a dark dungeon until he was released by a man who had rudely taught him to walk and stand, as well as to say a few words and write his name. Now he (Bruno S.) stands mute and motionless on the marketplace, a prayer book in one hand and a letter in the other. The letter's anonymous author writes that he, a poor day labourer, had found the boy outside his door in 1812. The boy learns quickly and should become a rider, like his father before him. The boy is named Kaspar Hauser and sent to live in the town prison, where the prison warden and his family kindly see to his needs. In order to relieve the town coffers, he is then sent to a circus where he is paraded together with other "curiosities".

He soon breaks out of the circus and hides in Professor Daumer's house where he is introduced to language, science, music, art and religion, as well as government officials, priests, scientists and rich eccentrics who want to examine and test the foundling. However, Kaspar develops his own ideas and his own logic, bringing him in conflict with religion and prevailing rationality. His behaviour alienates the world around him and he feels a stranger in this world. One day he is severely beaten about the head by an unidentified assailant. He is fatally stabbed in the chest during a second attack in 1833. His body is dissected by the anatomists looking for abnormalities that would explain his strangeness.

The film is based on an authentic case which provoked considerable discussion in Nuremberg. Neither Kaspar Hauser's origins nor the circumstances surrounding his murder have been established to date. It is hardly surprising that Werner Herzog, who always takes the figures for his films from extreme existentialist situations, should have been so strongly drawn by the subject upon receiving the book containing Kaspar Hauser's documents and own references. However, the film is a free adaptation that only follows the basic outlines of the authentic case.

"Kaspar Hauser is the only known case in mankind's history in which a person is "born" an adult. ... Kaspar is quite literally an undefined, speechless, uncivilized, unprocessed chunk of person, a blank such as could have dropped off another planet. The story of a passion and the slow death of everything spontaneously human about him develops when Kaspar is suddenly cast out and confronted with civilized middle-class society. At the end, when he has been murdered, everyone frantically looks for signs of deformation in him, totally oblivious to the fact that the real deformation is in middle-class society and its striving to mould him to its standards." (Werner Herzog)

Herzog cast the warehouse worker and singer of popular ballads Bruno S. in the leading part; Bruno S. is himself something like a modern Kaspar Hauser who spent his entire youth, between the ages of 3 and 26, in various homes and institutions. Some critics accused Herzog of holding Bruno S. up to ridicule by the public. The only ridiculous figures in this film, however, are the acknowledged representatives of society, while Bruno S. gives a tangible portrayal of both Kaspar Hauser's suffering and his dignity.

"Played by a man who must pay more attention to language than an actor; the result of a diction that is probably retarded, but which also expresses energy and determination, revealing moments of great authority and dignity." (Robert Fischer, Joe Hembus: "The New German Film 1960-1980"; 1981)

The brief, precisely articulated sentences with which Kaspar expresses the situation of his life are unforgettable: "Yes, I feel my appearance in this world was a hard fall." His independent theories (for instance about the life of apples: "A clever little apple!"), his allegorical dream visions, the music ("This portrait is bewitchingly beautiful ...") and the beautiful views of Nature contrasting with Kaspar's ordeals blend into a moving story of his suffering.

JEDER FÜR SICH UND GOTT GEGEN ALLE is the first play film that Herzog produced in Germany; all his previous films had been produced abroad. In Dinkelsbühl in Franconia, he tried to recapture the contemporary colour of the 19th century as accurately as possible. Kaspar Hauser would like to understand this world and fails, like the heroes of earlier Herzog films. His interpretation of the world, however, brings him to a conclusion that raises him above the acknowledged representatives of that world, thus giving him future significance.

Production Country

Germany (DE)

Production Period

1974

Production Year

1974

color

color

Aspect Ratio

1:1,37

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Literary Adaptation, Drama, History Film

Topic

Violence, Religion, Psychology, Film History

Available Media

DCP, Blu-ray Disc, Digital Film

Original Version

German (de)

DCP

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Lithuanian (lt), German (full), Polish (pl)

Blu-ray Disc

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Lithuanian (lt), German (full)

Digital Film

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Lithuanian (lt), German (full), Polish (pl)