Film: In the Land of Silence and Darkness

I am positively and utterly speechless. I have too many thoughts rushing in my mind, and my heart is tugging. I am overcome with emotion after seeing these two short clips from German director Werner Herzog’s documentary, “In the Land of Silence and Darkness”.

In 1971, Herzog, a well known German director shot this documentary about Deaf Blindness, and one of the subjects of the film is a 22 year old boy afflicted with Down Syndrome as well as loss of hearing and sight. He struggles to communicate through raspberries and throwing the ball at himself. Truth be told, I thought this was some sick joke by the boys of Jackass or from a YouTube uber-addict who likes to get kicks out of imitating a severely-disabled person.

But when I saw the second video, I stopped snickering and admiring this boy’s acting skills. This is a real video, a documentary. Then I gasped and a tear rolled down my face when Vladimir holds the radio. I feel the very same way about music.

Now, I am very curious about this film and I fully intend to walk to Blockbuster as soon as possible to find a copy. I’m no Netflix member, what a tragedy.

View these videos. I’d really like to know what you thought. And if you’ve ever seen it/or plan on doing so?

Tactile love,

Coco

**********

WERNER HERZOG

LAND DES SCHWEIGENS UND DER DUNKELHEIT

In the Land of the Silence and Darkness 

 1971

CLIP #1

CLIP #2

Source: alotlikelife at YouTube.com