In discovering Bruno S., Werner Herzog found exactly the kind of actor he needs, someone who doesn’t necessarily “act” in a role, but someone that more-or-less is the character he/she was hired to portray. In this case, the story of Bruno S. (full name Bruno Schleinstein) holds eerie similarities to the title character in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, a 19th century Germany-set story of a man who was locked away in a dungeon for the first 17 years or so of his life only to one day be found in a small town square outside Nuremberg, alone and holding only an anonymous letter.
The film is based on a true story, though Herzog holds little allegiance to reality as he cast Bruno (as I’ll refer to him throughout the rest of this review), a man in his forties portraying what history would tell us is only a boy in his late teens. Thankfully, the age of Kaspar Hauser doesn’t matter. Bruno portrays the character, who comes to the small town barely able to walk or even talk, with such innocence. He plays the character as pensive, yet curious; shy, yet attentive. It’s a performance you can’t neatly describe or fit in a box, it’s otherworldly and considering Herzog’s past with Klaus Kinski, it’s only fitting he’d find a quieter, yet just as intriguing lead as Bruno S.
As Herzog tells it in his book “Herzog on Herzog“, Bruno was beaten so badly by his mother, a prostitute, when he was three that he stopped speaking. She used the opportunity to have him placed in a mental asylum and for the next 23 years he’d be in and out of institutions, foster homes and prisons. Herzog saw Bruno in a documentary and knew he was the man to play Kaspar Hauser, a role he says Bruno realized “was just as much about how society had destroyed him” as it was about how society destoryed Kaspar Hauser. The result is as heart-breaking as it is enlightening.
The small town’s initial reaction to Kaspar is one of curiosity. He’s cared for in a general sense, though he is kept locked away at the top of a tower and eventually becomes part of a trio of circus freaks so as to “pay his way”. He eventually comes into the care of Herr Daumer (Walter Ladengast) who teaches him to read and write. Kaspar takes a liking to the piano, eventually coming to the attention of academics and the aristocracy.
This, to me, is what Kaspar Hauser is building to, specifically a scene where a professor attempts to test Kaspar with a logic question with which there can be only one answer, or so says the professor. Kaspar’s answer is so simple and flawless, that within this one exchange you finally realize Kaspar is slowly gaining the upper hand. Another exchange finds Kaspar doubting God in the face of three religious figures. It’s a conversation that begs the question of how much we “know” or believe comes from what we’ve been told or comes from what is generally accepted in society.
The mere fact Kaspar Hauser is not a child changes everything. He’s a blank slate as much as he’s a reasoning young man, and to convince him the universe was born out of nothing by an all powerful, unseen God isn’t going to be possible. As much as we may feel sorry for the way Kaspar (and by relation Bruno) has been treated by society, there’s something to envy in being able to look at the world with such clear eyes. Kaspar is a man that has been tormented all his life, but he’s also a man that can see the world for what it is, unencumbered by societal norms, such as when he asks a woman, “What are women good for?” The question is blunt, and misunderstood out of context, but it comes from observation rather than gender defined roles in society. The resulting back-and-forth conversation is wonderful.
Due to Bruno’s inexperience as an actor and mental state (something Herzog would be criticized for, saying he took advantage of the man), Herzog had to capture all the audio on set, knowing there would be no way to dub any of the lines after the fact. The sounds of the 19th century and all of Bruno’s dialogue had to be captured on set and there’s an immediacy to each and every scene as a result. So often films seek to attain some level of perfection, but if you’re telling a dramatic story perfection isn’t nearly as important as authenticity. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is just that, authentic, honest and heartfelt.
After watching I got to thinking what it might be like for someone today to be kept hidden from the world for the first 16 years of their life. Taught hardly a word, nor how to write or even walk and eventually unleashed on the world. How would they interpret what they saw? What societal “truths” would they accept? What level of “political correctness” would they exhibit? Our society is so caught up in labeling people, what would someone do if they had no labels to apply?
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is available on Fandor.com right now. It will be included as part of a new, limited edition set of Werner Herzog films, releasing on July 29, 2014. For purchasing information click here.
