The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

Right - despite the fact that this is based on an actual man and actual events, it is pretty aptly titled. Werner Herzog takes a bit of a punt with his chronology of the life of Kaspar Hauser (a strong performance from Bruno S.) but there are very few definites here except for the fact that we know (or come to know) that he had spent most of his childhood chained to a bed in a cellar with his only human contact coming from a man clad in black who fed and watered him daily. Then he released him, barely mobile or able to speak, into 1820s Nuremberg armed only with the clothes he stood up in and a note for the local soldiers. The rest of the tale unravels via a mixture of a conversation from the man himself with housekeeper "Käthe" (Brigitte Mira) about his past whilst we also focus on how various elements of society try to ingratiate, capitalise upon and analyse the young man before his untimely death spawns an whole new slew of sometimes fantastic conspiracy theories. At times there's something akin to Dumas' "Man in the Iron Mask" to the thread - could he be the illegitimate son of a grandee, a rich and powerful person? Well there's the enigma - we didn't know then and maybe we never will know - and that's the concept that this film juggles quite entertainingly and provocatively. He can barely speak yet picks language up quickly and efficiently. Writing likewise. Might that suggest he comes from learned stock? We are presented with a man virginal in almost every extent - his lack of exposure to his own kind leaving him naive and vulnerable but also eager and not always endearing. His personality is an open book initially, but he colours it in quite quickly and that's as much due to those vying for influence as he gradually become more forthcoming. It all ends rather sadly, and inexplicably - so don't anticipate closure. It's a series of questions with not so many, satisfactory at any rate, answers. The production looks good, the story consistently paced and we are left with an intriguing conundrum delivered by a solid cast of character actors who encapsulate not just his predicament but their own agenda too.