. Filmmakers tend to use representations of disability to their own ends and Werner Herzog is no different; he approaches the experience of being deaf and blind as part of his poetic quest into the extraordinary. And yet, if Land of Silence and Darkness is a film filled with awe, it is also made with a great deal of respect. "The results of Werner Herzog's documentary on the world of those who are both deaf and blind completely defeat one's expectations, for the film is neither morbidly depressing nor heartwarmingly uplifting. In fact, Herzog's effort-to achieve a description of silence and darkness through a medium of sounds and images-transports us to a far-off region where such conventional descriptions become irrelevant. The central character is a fifty-six-year-old woman named Fini Straubinger. As the result of a childhood accident, Fini became blind at fifteen and deaf at eighteen. Completely isolated, she stayed in bed for thirty years. Today, this remarkable woman travels tirelessly throughout Germany acting as a consultant, educator, and morale-booster for her companions in the 'land of silence and darkness.' (The title is no conceit of the filmmaker but a remark dropped quite casually by Fini to describe the world of the deaf-blind. We eventually learn that this world is actually neither totally silent nor totally dark.) Through Fini we are introduced to a world that challenges the imagination...Hand-language-communication by touch-comes to seem as much emotional as practical, an electric moment of contact...A definite progression in the film soon becomes clear: we are engaged in another one of Herzog's mystic expeditions to the outskirts of experience..." (New Yorker Films).