Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit) (1971)

83% of critics liked it
(6 reviews)
82% of users liked it
(1,063 ratings)

This moving documentary by director Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, and Aguirre, the Wrath of God) enters into the world of Fini Strabinger of Bavaria, who is both deaf and blind. Fini has made a career of helping others who are similarly afflicted, teaching them sign language and taking them on field… More This moving documentary by director Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, and Aguirre, the Wrath of God) enters into the world of Fini Strabinger of Bavaria, who is both deaf and blind. Fini has made a career of helping others who are similarly afflicted, teaching them sign language and taking them on field trips to gardens and touching zoos. Told in an unaffected, homey style, this film uses a minimum of narration as it movingly explores the lives of these people. One of the film's highlights is footage showing Fini's reactions to her first airplane flight. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Directed By: Werner Herzog
Genres: Documentary, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Oct 8, 1973 Wide

Critic Reviews

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
A remarkable, unaccountable film, both cold and moving.
, 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.
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
The subject is, by any standard, worth suffering the sometimes dodgy filmmaking.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Speaks volumes about the intrinsic human desire for empathetic communion.
Bill Gibron, DVDTalk.com
Land of Silence and Darkness is a tremendous testament to the strength of the human spirit...Werner Herzog is a filmmaker of substantive skill and talent.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
You don't get a raft overrun by monkeys, but you do get a chimp breaking the fourth wall by trying to tear the lens out of the camera.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Watching and hearing Fini treat her patients is like watching Bob Ross paint.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

Even in his earliest documentaries, Werner Herzog displays an inquisitiveness and sensitivity towards his subjects and that's especially true with his insightful "Land of Silence and Darkness." It is about deaf-blind people(they can see colors and hear static but… More
Even in his earliest documentaries, Werner Herzog displays an inquisitiveness and sensitivity towards his subjects and that's especially true with his insightful "Land of Silence and Darkness." It is about deaf-blind people(they can see colors and hear static but that's about it) who are cut off from the outside world, only able to explore it and be communicated through touch with a companion.(There is a glove demonstrated as a guide to this form of language.) Those who were cursed to be born this way have a trouble with abstract concepts like night and day and to whom even water can seem terrifying. That exploration is only a set-up for the story of Fini Straubinger who became deaf and blind when young, as a result of injuries suffered from a terrible fall down a flight of stairs years before. After ending her own personal isolation, she travels with her fellow deaf-blind people to a botanical gardens and zoo and works tirelessly to end the isolation of others, as she brings awareness to a wider world in asking for better conditions.

Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit) (1971)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

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