Land of Silence and DarknessChances are that if you're reading this, you're blessed with the gift of sight; and chances are that if you're reading this website, you're also blessed with the gift of hearing, given its significance in motion pictures. It was watching Land of Silence and Darkness that I was reminded of these blessings and how fundamental they are to the life I live, but also how others who do not possess these abilities must cope with life in the absence of them. Being deaf or blind would be a monumental challenge to overcome; the people depicted in this film must often overcome both, and how this affects their lives is the focus of this documentary.
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Land of Silence and Darkness primarily follows Fini Straubinger, an elderly woman who once had the gift of sight and hearing, but after a childhood accident, she was shortly thereafter deprived of both. She tells us of her ordeal and the trials to recompose her life; she can still speak, but the questions asked of her are translated to her by a tactile language, involving finger strokes along the hand to spell letters. Fini is something of a spokeswoman to those who share her condition, or variations of it, and her sociability and positive attitude help her connect with a variety of people in varied circumstances like her. She visits Elsa Fehrer in a hospital--displaced because the people who committed her didn't know how to help her. Elsa appears to have given up on trying to communicate, but Fini desperately tries to reach her, soliciting her attention with a doll and the ever-present tactile communication. Fini understands that even though two senses may be deprived, the others are how she--and those like her--can interpret the world. She and her companions visit a petting zoo, where they interact with elephants and chimpanzees, even a baby goat, who runs off screaming to her mother, scared at the unfamiliar giants handling her. Here, like in much of filmmaker Werner Herzog's work, is a metaphor for the fear which we all feel when we are introduced to the unfamiliar, just as it must be for those who have lost those senses. But never once does the film feel as though it were exploiting those who are blind, deaf, or both; nor does the movie attempt to make any moralizing judgement by and large--we observe the world unfold passively, allowing the reality of the situation to speak for itself.
Fini is a well-spoken representative for the "blind-deaf", speaking to those whom she tries to reach with patience and understanding, but communicating to others with the capacity for abstraction, and often with poetic language. Her description of the dark, silent land which she and others walk through is where the film gets its title. Simple--but real--moments of observing those who are coping with this condition at various ages illuminates the challenges set forth for them. For instance, the young boy Harald is only just overcoming his youthful rambunctiousness, and he is being shown by one of his trainers how to swim. Harald enjoys the simple fun of being under the spray of a shower, and is nervous about stepping into the pool, much more putting his head underwater--he goes so far as putting his shoulders in, which we gather is an achievement itself. And although the young man Dimitri is deaf and blind, when he and Fini are offered a radio to hold, it is not the sound which the radio produces which gives them enjoyment, but the vibration, the presence of music which Dimitri can experience through that tactile sense, which brings an authentic smile to his face. There is a social function which Fini attends, where a politician gives a speech about how the disabled must not be neglected and must be integrated into society. I thought at first that this speech--and the orchestra to follow--was initially in bad taste, until I noticed this moment where Fini holds the radio, and realized that she must have been able to sense the music the same way, as well as her translator filling her in on the speech. This is the kind of communication which is necessary, and it is something which we tend to take for granted...communication. We all need to know that we are not alone in the world and that others feel the same way as we do. If not that, then that we can empathize with what others must be experiencing and going through, that the people who suffer from these handicaps are not only people, too, but heroes for overcoming the adversities set before them, or at least making the effort to do so--Land of Silence and Darkness definitely puts things into perspective.
Recommended for: Fans of documentary who wish to discover a little bit more about the world which those who are blind and deaf must cope with, and how they seek to bring their experience at being a part of it to others not so advantaged, just as Fini does in her quest to bring this to others like her.
Fini is a well-spoken representative for the "blind-deaf", speaking to those whom she tries to reach with patience and understanding, but communicating to others with the capacity for abstraction, and often with poetic language. Her description of the dark, silent land which she and others walk through is where the film gets its title. Simple--but real--moments of observing those who are coping with this condition at various ages illuminates the challenges set forth for them. For instance, the young boy Harald is only just overcoming his youthful rambunctiousness, and he is being shown by one of his trainers how to swim. Harald enjoys the simple fun of being under the spray of a shower, and is nervous about stepping into the pool, much more putting his head underwater--he goes so far as putting his shoulders in, which we gather is an achievement itself. And although the young man Dimitri is deaf and blind, when he and Fini are offered a radio to hold, it is not the sound which the radio produces which gives them enjoyment, but the vibration, the presence of music which Dimitri can experience through that tactile sense, which brings an authentic smile to his face. There is a social function which Fini attends, where a politician gives a speech about how the disabled must not be neglected and must be integrated into society. I thought at first that this speech--and the orchestra to follow--was initially in bad taste, until I noticed this moment where Fini holds the radio, and realized that she must have been able to sense the music the same way, as well as her translator filling her in on the speech. This is the kind of communication which is necessary, and it is something which we tend to take for granted...communication. We all need to know that we are not alone in the world and that others feel the same way as we do. If not that, then that we can empathize with what others must be experiencing and going through, that the people who suffer from these handicaps are not only people, too, but heroes for overcoming the adversities set before them, or at least making the effort to do so--Land of Silence and Darkness definitely puts things into perspective.
Recommended for: Fans of documentary who wish to discover a little bit more about the world which those who are blind and deaf must cope with, and how they seek to bring their experience at being a part of it to others not so advantaged, just as Fini does in her quest to bring this to others like her.