Directed by Werner Herzog • 1970 • West Germany
Starring Helmut Döring, Paul Glauer, Gisela Hertwig

With his brilliantly anarchic second feature, Werner Herzog took his place as the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema. Cast entirely with dwarf actors, the film follows the chaos that erupts when the inmates confined to a repressive institution rise up in revolt against their keepers—a rebellion that gradually devolves into unchecked depravity. A furious allegory of oppression and liberation, EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL is an extreme and disturbing vision of human nature freed from all authority.