What it’s about
As a teen, German native Fini Straubinger suffered a blow to the head that left her deaf and blind. Now a kindly, mild-mannered woman in middle age, Straubinger has made it her mission to reach out to and connect with other deaf-blind people, who tend to be socially isolated, institutionalized, or next-to-impossible for therapists and others to communicate with.
Why we love it
Punctuated by Herzog's idiosyncratic commentary, this extraordinary documentary focuses on the courage, empathy, and altruism of a woman deprived of two senses, and peeks into a shuttered world very few of us will ever understand. Straubinger herself was confined to a bed by an overprotective mother for 30 years. Here, she ministers to those like her, and we glimpse the ecstasy of her first airplane ride and a client's trip to a petting zoo. Herzog does not spare us from the crushing despair of the most hopeless cases Fini sees, nor should he. Visit this alien “Land,” and you will not fail to be moved and amazed at the depth of human resilience.