The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser May 16, 2008

THE WERNER HERZOG SERIES CONTINUES

Werner Herzog rose to prominence in the 1970s as a central figure in the New German Cinema movement along with Rainer Fassbinder, Volker Schlöndorf, Margarethe von Trotta, Wim Wenders and others looking for a more personal cinema. Beginning with such heralded films as AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD and WOYZECK, Herzog's career in the decades since has been distinguished by a continuing fascination with characters possessed by a unique vision, their escapades set against hauntingly powerful landscapes—from the Amazon jungle to the Sahara Desert to the Antarctic tundra. Herzog has said, "It is the human soul that is visible through the landscapes presented in my films." He has also characteristically disregarded the distinction between narrative film and documentary in pursuit of a more profound truth: "Through invention, through imagination, through fabrication, I become more truthful than the little bureaucrats." Herzog has transcended the New German Cinema movement to become—as Milos Forman, Francois Truffaut and many other fellow filmmakers have asserted—one of the great cinema artists of our era.

THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER
GERMANY 1974 / Director: werner herzog
FRI MAY 16 / 7:00 PM / WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
In 1828, a young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appeared in Nuremberg after being imprisoned in a cellar by an unknown guardian for the first twenty years of his life. Adopted by a kind couple, Hauser became an object of curiosity to aristocrats desiring an amusing party centerpiece, and to scientists and philosophers seeking evidence of man's "natural" state. (110 min)

Official Website: http://www.nwfilm.org/screenings/?volissue=363&series=4#2090