Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Description

In this astonishing documentary about the world of the deaf-blind, acclaimed director Werner Herzog (Signs of Life, Aguirre: The Wrath of God) explores the life of Fini Straubinger, a remarkable and kind-hearted 56-year-old deaf and blind woman who has dedicated her life to helping the similarly afflicted.
From their first flight on an airplane to a day at a petting-zoo, Herzog captures the joys and struggles of those who have been isolated from the world around them.

Land of Silence and Darkness is a tribute to the triumphant nature of the human spirit and a glimpse into an existence so intense and abstract that at times it seems to reach great lyrical heights.

Tags

1960s, Disability

Collected reviews and ratings

10 DVD Talk | Bill Gribon

Land of Silence and Darkness is a great documentary. It allows the audience to make the discovery, to join in the journey and reap the rewards of the trek. It takes us into places we rarely visit, meeting individuals many of us will never know personally.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

Although this movie is not for everyone -it has a very slow narrative- it is a very important testimony of those people who have lived in the land of darkness (blindness) and silence (deafness).
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9.0 DVD Town | Christopher Long

... at the center of these solemn ceremonies stands Saint Fini, possibly the most remarkable person Werner Herzog has ever encountered in his cinematic travels; and that, dear readers, is saying a whole hell of a lot.
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8.5 DVD Verdict | Jesse Ataide

Any film that dares to penetrate the silent, lonely world of the deaf-blind is inevitably an important film. That Herzog is able to take that film and craft it into an enduring work of art is an exceptional achievement indeed.
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8.3 Time Out

The courage on view is astounding, and Herzog's treatment is never voyeuristic or sentimental, but sensuous and overwhelmingly moving.
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8.0 Reverse Shot online | Nick Pinkerton

Silence and Darkness is a good movie; there’s not a trace of put-on to its steady empathy. What a blessing is a truly curious camera; what an abomination one that wants to tell us everything. The film’s sense of inquiry will help me to remember its faces: unself-conscious, haloed by the windows of dark rooms, fogged eyes drifting—Herzog’s famous landscapes give way to an intent, close search for unguess-able inner terrains.
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6.0 Slant Magazine | Eric Henderson

Watching and hearing Fini treat her patients is like watching Bob Ross paint. In both cases, their methods are mostly intuitive and you probably wouldn't want to hang their final products on your wall, but it's their becalmed craft that compels you, hypnotizes you.
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6.0 DVD Journal | Marc Mohan

It's the sort of subject matter that, in lesser hands, could easily be wrought into a maudlin, manipulative, and even exploitive work.
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6.0 New York Times

Herzog, one of the most talented of the new young German film directors, will one day make a movie that's as interesting to sit through as to argue about later. "Land of Silence and Darkness" is not it.
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