Pity the poor soldier, the useless toy of the State, the plaything of doctors, the grotesque romantic who yearns to love, but cannot be loved. Thirty-one years after it was filmed, mostly in single takes in 18-days of shooting, the film perplexes and captivates the viewer. It is, at its most fundamental, a film about not fitting in. There are, once again, some astounding drawn out shots of Klaus Kinski running. Extraordinary acting, a fragmented story and script, disquieting themes of class differences, disenfranchisement, medical experimentation, jealousy, and mental illness.