Land of Silence and Darkness
Encyclopedia
Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit) is a 1971 documentary film
by German
director Werner Herzog
. Produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion.
At the home, a charitable group helps boys who were born deaf-blind, and have therefore experienced the world only through taste, smell, and touch. Herzog provokes the viewer to ponder what the world would be like, what, indeed, thought would be like for someone who had no concept of speech or sight. He shows how an act as simple as showering can be an alien and horrifying thing for someone who has no idea what a shower is and no way for it to be explained to him. This scene, perhaps, evokes best the profound sense of loneliness and isolation present in the film.
A more optimistic scene occurs when Ms. Straubinger and her friends take a flight in a plane. Many of them are experiencing flight for the first time, and, unable to see or hear; the viewer is led to ponder the wonders present even in the mundane.
Herzog, himself, has stated that the whole film is a preparation for the final image. In this final shot, one of the deaf-blind approaches a tree and embraces it in a gesture which expresses a “fanatic materialism: it would be difficult to imagine a more stripped-down, economical illustration of what Heidegger calls Dasein, existential being in a ‘senseless’ world” (Hoberman, J.).
The film is, therefore, a moving story about a group of seriously disabled people, which also delves into questions of being, knowledge, and communication that philosophers have been asking for centuries.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
director Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
. Produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion.
Summary
In telling the story of Fini Straubinger a deaf-blind German woman, Herzog investigates the nature of human thought and communication. Herzog follows Fini Straubinger to numerous events as she visits with other people in the deaf-blind community, discussing their struggle to live in the modern world with their disabilities. He reveals their communication with each other through a sort of sign language of strokes and taps on the other person's palm. Three important scenes in the film, for example, involve: a home for people who, unlike Ms. Straubinger and her friends, were born deaf-blind; an airplane ride; and a man exploring a tree with his hands.At the home, a charitable group helps boys who were born deaf-blind, and have therefore experienced the world only through taste, smell, and touch. Herzog provokes the viewer to ponder what the world would be like, what, indeed, thought would be like for someone who had no concept of speech or sight. He shows how an act as simple as showering can be an alien and horrifying thing for someone who has no idea what a shower is and no way for it to be explained to him. This scene, perhaps, evokes best the profound sense of loneliness and isolation present in the film.
A more optimistic scene occurs when Ms. Straubinger and her friends take a flight in a plane. Many of them are experiencing flight for the first time, and, unable to see or hear; the viewer is led to ponder the wonders present even in the mundane.
Herzog, himself, has stated that the whole film is a preparation for the final image. In this final shot, one of the deaf-blind approaches a tree and embraces it in a gesture which expresses a “fanatic materialism: it would be difficult to imagine a more stripped-down, economical illustration of what Heidegger calls Dasein, existential being in a ‘senseless’ world” (Hoberman, J.).
The film is, therefore, a moving story about a group of seriously disabled people, which also delves into questions of being, knowledge, and communication that philosophers have been asking for centuries.
External links
- IMDb.com main page
- Extensive Review by Tao LinTao LinTao Lin is an American writer. He was born of Taiwanese parents and grew up on the East Coast of the USA.He is the author of two novels, Eeeee Eee Eeee and Richard Yates ; a novella, Shoplifting from American Apparel ; a short story collection, Bed ; and two poetry collections, you are a little...