Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)

Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since adolescence, and her work on behalf of other deaf and blind people, this film shows how the deaf and blind... See full summary »

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog

Stars:

Fini Straubinger, M. Baaske, Elsa Fehrer

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Fini Straubinger	...	Herself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
M. Baaske
Elsa Fehrer	...	Herself
Heinrich Fleischmann	...	Himself
Rolf Illig	...	Narrator (voice)
Vladimir Kokol	...	Himself
Resi Mittermeier	...	Herself

Storyline

Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since adolescence, and her work on behalf of other deaf and blind people, this film shows how the deaf and blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.

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Plot Keywords:

five word title | written by director | german | germany | zoo | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

22 October 2002 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Land of Silence and Darkness

Filming Locations:

Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Referat für Filmgeschichte, Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Was ich bin sind meine Filme - Teil 2... nach 30 Jahren (2010)

User Reviews

An exhilarating answer to the question, Who is my brother?

Herzog's documentary is a stunning revelation of what it means to be human. When we first see the profoundly disabled people on the screen, we shy away from them, disturbed to consider that these creatures might be people like ourselves. But through the love of the woman whose work Herzog captures here, we discover them as precisely what they -- and we -- are: human brothers and sisters endowed by God with both the need for love and an unimpaired (despite physical handicaps) capacity to love. Watching this movie some 20 years ago, I found this remarkable film one of the most exhilarating cinematic experiences of my life (and I'm now 55 and a veteran of many, many movies, and this film retains its wondrous place in my memory), a testament to the unity of the universal human family told with the artist's -- Herzog's -- aesthetic objectivity, yet clearly giving voice to a passionate embrace and advocacy of life, no matter how physically disabled.