Land of Silence and Darkness /

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. 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 hugging a tree. 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