Following his tendency to use actors who live their roles, Herzog cast the schizophrenic Bruno S as Kaspar Hauser, a foundling who emerges in Nuremberg in 1828 having been imprisoned his whole life.
Beard-tugging locals treat him as a mystery, a freak, a puzzle, a pet.
But Herzog acts otherwise, adopting Hauser’s perspective to sustain an aching sadness over the fate of a wide-eyed innocent.
