This early Herzog documentary has elements of many of his styles. It has disturbing qualities like Even Dwarfs Started Small, and a story of emotional depth like Kasper Hauser. The classic Herzog themes of alienation and outsider lives are in full force here.
The film focuses on the deaf-blind, and in one lady in particular, Fini Straubinger. Fini travels Europe to help the similarly inflicted. There are a few funny moments like scenes of the deaf-blind playing with a monkey at the zoo for the first time. When Herzog films a boy who has been deaf-blind since birth trying to swim in a pool, it is both thought provoking and deeply weird.
Some of the most disturbing and strangely voyeuristic footage I've seen Herzog shoot is of a 22 year man who has never seen, heard, or learned to walk, chew, or communicate. After a few long minutes of him fumbling around making buzzing sounds with his lips, Fini comes in to try and communicate with him. She hands him a radio, and the vibrations seem calm him for a moment. It is a rare and beautiful scene.
Land of Silence and Darkness is made up of these moments that help one disappear into the minds of these people. And it is a very different mind then one is used to. As Anita Earle writes, 'It is... a testament from another plane of existence.'
The film focuses on the deaf-blind, and in one lady in particular, Fini Straubinger. Fini travels Europe to help the similarly inflicted. There are a few funny moments like scenes of the deaf-blind playing with a monkey at the zoo for the first time. When Herzog films a boy who has been deaf-blind since birth trying to swim in a pool, it is both thought provoking and deeply weird.
Some of the most disturbing and strangely voyeuristic footage I've seen Herzog shoot is of a 22 year man who has never seen, heard, or learned to walk, chew, or communicate. After a few long minutes of him fumbling around making buzzing sounds with his lips, Fini comes in to try and communicate with him. She hands him a radio, and the vibrations seem calm him for a moment. It is a rare and beautiful scene.
Land of Silence and Darkness is made up of these moments that help one disappear into the minds of these people. And it is a very different mind then one is used to. As Anita Earle writes, 'It is... a testament from another plane of existence.'