Inside the multitude of twitter feeds i monitor as part of my job in the office of student affairs, i discovered that a 35mm print of The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (W. Herzog, 1974) was going to be screened last monday at the campus movie theater, the texas union. I was glad to find this out and rescheduled my evening in order to watch it. This film caused me a lot of curiosity not only because i am an admirer of Herzog but also because the legend that frames this story, intrigued me a lot. I was curious of the metaphors that were possible to create from the story of a young man who grew up in total isolation and suddenly was exposed to the life in society, more exactly, in a rural German town. 
The theme of the outsider is an interesting field for asking questions about the meaning of social relationships, human dreams, norms, believes. In this film, the central character of Kaspar, interpreted by the natural actor Bruno S, brings us closer to the experience of the uncivilized man. On the one hand, the performance of Bruno S is shocking for its roughness and innocence. From the way he speaks to his wide open eyes, to his movements, Kaspar reveals a humanity that is different and difficult to categorize. On the other hand, the character is placed in the middle of delicate and naturalistic landscapes that reveal a simple rural society.
The film has a slow pace and its cinematography is beautiful. The story is simple but compelling, and overall enigmatic. Kaspar has been taken out of the dungeons of a tower and brought to the town square where he is left alone and with a letter in his right hand. The town folks find him and try to figure out who is him. One of the town members decides to host Kaspar in his house. He will spend years in that house and will learn how to speak, write, play piano, eat with utensils, dress, and other civilized manners. However, he will constantly confront the members of the society who try to teach him logic, religion, or common knowledge. It is during the encounter with those town folks that the film reveals the potential for questioning us. I love the moment when Kaspar argues about the feeling of the apples that are on the floor. For him, the apples are tired, for the others the apples cant feel. When they try to prove it by throwing an apple into his feet, the apple randomly takes another path. Kaspar will explain this situation with joy saying that the apple jumped and in order to avoid hitting his feet.
The subtitle of the film, All for Themselves and God against All, provides clues to the enigma. However, the mystery of Kaspar Hauser is never resolved. What happens to humans if they are removed from society, from its institutions, from its culture? What happens to their brains? To their dreams? To their metaphors? The poetic imagination of the uncivilized man is powerful, and the metaphors that can be created are definitely, as Herzog has explored in this film, enigmatic.
