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Land of Silence and Darkness
Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit
1971 · Film · documentary · 85 min
Directed by Werner Herzog
Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.
3 positivefrom 3 commenters
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3 comments on Hacker News
Spot on. There's something about his approach to documentaries that really resonates with me. I'll admit I'm not super well-versed in documentaries so maybe his style isn't that unique, but I suspect it is. The only other film that's had the same effect on me as a Herzog documentary was Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing. I would also highly recommend Herzog's early film, Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) which shows he had the magic very early in his career.
Herzog's Land of Silence and Darkness [0], which follows some elderly members of the German deaf-blind community, is one of the most fascinating documentaries I've ever seen. One quote in particular has stuck with me since I saw it years ago:
“People think that deafness means silence, but they are wrong. It is a constant noise that ranges from a gentle whisper going through some cracks to a constant buzz, which is worse.”
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Silence_and_Darkness
I need to update my citation:
"Land of Silence and Darkness" is the better source, though both may cover the subject. The two films are closely related. I think I saw them together, hence the confusion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Silence_and_Darkness