Warning: Do not read or find out anything about this film. Don’t even look! at the cover art. It ruïns everything. My god. Order from Netflix (no cover art). If you already know what happens in this film, your experience will be severely diminished. Don’t read what I am about to say here.

Shares a lot of common themes with Kaspar Hauser but is a much smaller, less polished and comparatively less overwhelming work. Klaus Kinski’s Franz Woyzek bares superficial resemblance to the protagonist in Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de Torchon. He is basically shit on by everyone, and then we see the result of all this. Of course the psychological makeup of the different characters is fundamentally different and leads to entirely different evoked reactions (you sympathize with the one and loath the other). Finally, I have to admit although I was riveted by Kinski’s performance, I’m not exactly sure I buy him as a mildly disturbed simpleton. If you like Herzog, you will like this film. But I myself will probably only see this film once, or twice. Other Herzog films I could just leave in the DVD player for weeks. And I do.

Spoiler: A potential explanation for why this is a lesser Herzog film. Bad guys are too extreme and easily understood (or at least they seem so to me and what’s the difference as I am an intelligent and attentive viewer). This lack of complexity in several key characters is a reason one would be unlikely to watch this film multiple times. Unless one does so out of a craving for more Herzog style or Kinski or a particular fondness for some part or aspect of the film (all three of which being conditions of which I am afflicted).