Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Every Man for Himself and God Against All (1974)


Cine International/Cinema V
Directed by Werner Herzog
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Shout! Factory)

A man who has spent his entire life locked up in a cellar is abandoned by his father one morning in the middle of a small German village. The curious townsfolk soon learn he can't walk, talk, eat or do much of anything by himself. They lock him up in a tower for awhile, make him earn money as a sideshow freak but eventually he gets "adopted" and starts to learn. Two years pass, and the foundling has become sort of an everyman philosopher, with visitors coming from all around seeking his "insights". Occasionally entertaining, one scene where he outwits a logician at his own game is good, but overall feels like a gimmick. Hal Ashby's Being There explored similar territory a few years later, but much more successfully.

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