Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (1974)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog (writer)

Release Date:

1 November 1974 (West Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

Herzog's film is based upon the true and mysterious story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man who suddenly appeared in Nuremberg in 1828...

Plot Keywords:

Captive | Dwarf | Isolation | Exploitation | Sensitivity

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Bruno S.	...	Kaspar Hauser
Walter Ladengast	...	Professor Daumer
Brigitte Mira	...	Kathe, Servant
Willy Semmelrogge	...	Circus director
Michael Kroecher	...	Lord Stanhope
Hans Musäus	...	Unknown Man
Marcus Weller
Gloria Doer	...	Frau Hiltel
Volker Prechtel	...	Hiltel the prison guard
Herbert Achternbusch	...	Bavarian Chicken Hypnotizer
Wolfgang Bauer
Wilhelm Bayer	...	Taunting Farmboy
Franz Brumbach
Johannes Buzalski
Helmut Döring	...	Little King

Also Known As:

Every Man for Himself and God Against All
Kaspar Hauser - Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (West Germany)
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (International: English title)
The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (International: English title) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Filmverlag der Autoren

Quotes:

Kaspar Hauser: Mother, I am so far away from everything.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Was ich bin, sind meine Filme (1979)

Greater than the sum of its parts

Every Man For Himself and God Against All aka The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is a prime slice of pre-nutter-in-the-jungle Werner Herzog and makes an interesting companion piece to Truffaut's L'Infant Sauvage/The Wild Child. Where Truffaut used his true story of a foundling more animal than boy as proof of the human soul, Herzog uses the real-life mystery of Hauser as a means of showing that society's accepted way of looking at the world may not necessarily be the most valid – as demonstrated when Hauser's contention that apples are tired is seemingly proved by the inability of his guardian to demonstrate that they are inanimate objects subject to man's will. Thanks as much to a truly alien performance from Bruno S. in the lead role – he really does seem to have suddenly fallen to Earth and not recovered from the shock – as to Herzog's unique mixture of the restrained and the hypnotic in his approach, the end result is one of those films that's definitely greater than the sum of its parts.