While we have grown steadily enamoured with his gloomy existential charm and tendency to veer towards the nihilistic and volatile aspects of humanity and its place in the natural world, we often tend to forget that Werner Herzog is one of the most surprisingly compassionate, humane filmmakers of his generation. It may not always be reflected in his narrative films, but his documentaries prove this to be an almost unimpeachable fact. Looking at the title, we’d expect Land of Silence and Darkness (German: Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit) to be one of his bleaker and more unsettling works about some vast and uncomfortable reality faced by our species, when in reality it is actually a more upbeat, heartfelt documentary that covers a subject that is technically analogous with the dramatic title, but far less sinister as it may sound. The focus of this film is Germany’s deaf-blind population, with Herzog venturing into various communities to interview different people who live with this disability. Some of them lost their senses during the course of their lives, others were born with a disability, and throughout the film, the director interviews them and their families, caretakers and the community as a whole, exploring the various ways in which they live their lives and handle having a disability that is severely limiting, but yet still manage to lead the most fulfilling, meaningful lives that are beautifully captured on film by Herzog, whose fascination with the material is clear from its very first frames, and continues to the final moments that make it abundantly clear just how passionate he was about these people and their stories, spending time with them as he weaves together a truly lovely and heartfelt documentary.

One of the defining qualities about Herzog as a filmmaker is that he refuses to focus on one particular subject. While he has developed an instantly recognizable style, the subjects he chooses to explore are impossible to predict. We have to admire artists who balk at the suggestion that they need to follow a particular path in terms of their subject matter, and instead embrace the topics that interest and captivate them. This has led to a surprisingly long career as a filmmaker in both narrative and non-fiction storytelling, each work he produces being bespoke and unique and being tethered with the rest of his films solely by featuring his distinctive touch. Land of Silence and Darkness finds Herzog focusing on a group of people who share a particular disability. His intentions were primarily to look at deafblindness as a characteristic of these people, rather than exploring the actual causes, since we learn very early on that there isn’t a singular reason why it comes about, and the various afflictions, diseases or accidents that rob these people of their primary senses are discussed but aren’t particularly important in the overall context of the film. Instead, Herzog wants to know them as individuals, giving them the chance to have their stories told. The film’s primary focus is Fini Straubinger, who lost her sight and hearing due to illness. She serves as our de facto protagonist and something of a narrator. We watch as she interacts with various people within her community, sharing experiences and trading insights that ultimately circle back to the fundamental theme of this film: communication. It’s staggering to witness how these people interact with one another, and while we know Helen Keller pioneered the form of communication known as tactile signing, the different approaches each of these people take are extremely compelling, and prove their incredible resilience. 

Herzog’s style of filmmaking has evolved, but the foundations have always remained the same in one way or another, as we see throughout this film. His approach is to draw attention away from his directorial ingenuity, and to instead focus on the images on screen. Arguably, the filming process of Land of Silence and Darkness was likely very simple, since he essentially immersed himself in the deaf-blind community, recording hours of footage from which he knew he’d be able to carve a film. However, forming the story was entirely different, especially since there is nothing close to a narrative arc throughout this film. Instead, we find that Herzog is more dedicated to capturing specific moments. The film is loosely structured around Straubinger’s life, but it doesn’t delve too deep into her past, and instead mostly consists of fragments in her daily life – we witness characters flying in an aeroplane, visiting a petting zoo and exploring the world, aided (not guided) by their family and friends, and it proves to be incredibly insightful and complex in ways that are sometimes difficult to describe without witnessing them firsthand. Many seem to think that documentary filmmakers, particularly those who design their films around the style known as cinéma vérité, are not doing anything other than filming everyday life and then reconfiguring those scenes in a particular order. This is a wild underestimation, especially when we realize just how layered and complex the reasoning behind certain decisions made in this film is – consider the striking final shot, in which a man “explores” a tree simply by touching every branch, and then embracing the trunk as if it was a companion. A simple moment that truly emphasizes what this film set out to achieve.

Once again, everything in this film inevitably circles back to the foundation, which is the power of communication. Many sighted or hearing people view the loss of a particular sense as being a major tragedy, and it is certainly true that those who are deaf or blind do encounter challenges in their lives that the rest of us never have to experience. Yet, despite its bleak title, you will struggle to find a film with more smiling faces and hearty laughter than Land of Silence and Darkness, since its subjects may be both deaf and blind, but few people are more joyful and appreciative of life than these individuals, who understand that whatever they have been given is a gift, and should be treated as something fragile and meaningful. We tend to take the simple joys of life for granted, and this film shows how limited our perspective can be. We watch as these people experience life in a very different way, but still get so much happiness out of it, if not even more, since they understand the simple joys are what makes life worth living. Following their everyday interactions, we feel a swell of emotions as they prove themselves to be truly resilient and hardy – communicating as a deaf-blind person is a seemingly insurmountable challenge, but yet where there is a will, there is a way, and this film perfectly showcases just how extraordinary these stories can be when they are put in context and given a platform. Herzog does very well in highlighting their lives, as well as allowing them to tell their own story (since his iconic narration is surprisingly absent throughout this film), which places the power in their hands and gives them a truly invaluable experience. Land of Silence and Darkness is a celebration of resilience and the human condition in its most extraordinary form.

Land of Silence and Darkness is an extremely simple film with a heartfelt message and a lot of compelling humour found throughout, which may be surprising for a film with as seemingly downbeat a topic as this one. It’s an early directorial effort from Herzog, who was using this film as an opportunity to not only explore this subject but the medium as a whole. His camera captures so many beautiful and intimate moments and draws our attention to the smallest and most seemingly inconsequential interactions, which are in turn repurposed to be the foundation for a truly captivating and genuinely moving depiction of the lives of people who suffer from a disability that restricts their skills, but does not limit them from leading fulfilling, complex lives that are filled with joy and affection from those fortunate enough to know them. Seeing their story told in such poignant, heartfelt ways only proves that disability is not a topic that should be viewed as inherently sad or serious, as there are ways to explore the subject with genuine affection and a lot of humour, which constitute the majority of this wonderful, endearing documentary about the power of friendship and the resilience that comes with being given an insurmountable challenge and somehow managing to defeat the odds and emerge victorious, which is the entire premise of this wonderful and engaging documentary that stands as one of Herzog’s most captivating.