'If there were another World War, I wouldn't even notice it.'

The above quote closes the documentary Land of Silence and Darkness and in many ways sums it up perfectly. Film-maker Werner Herzog has over the years made many films – fiction and fact alike – that focus on outsiders on the extreme fringes of society. With this film, I think it could be argued that his subjects are the most remote and in some ways unknowable of all. The people in this film are all deaf-blind. The loss of these two most key senses puts them in a strange mysterious world where they are cut off from our reality. The principal character is a late middle-aged woman called Fini Straubinger who suffered a fall when she was nine, that went unreported and untreated. As a consequence of this, she gradually lost her sight and hearing so that by her teens she was deaf and blind. She subsequently spent thirty years in bed but later re-emerged and went on to focus on helping others in a similar situation. This involved teaching them to communicate and organising field visits.

Like is mostly the way with documentaries focusing on people with severe disabilities, at first the participants seem quite alien to us but as we observe them for a time they emerge as identifiably human. Fini is in a more unique position than her more famous counterpart Helen Keller, in that she lost her senses at an age old enough to remember more about them and the world around her. This has allowed her to learn to communicate via an extraordinary touch-based system. It still seems incredible for us to imagine what it must be like to be in a void without sound or vision only to intermittently feel this physical communication and moreover, to be able to actually function under these circumstances. Fini is frankly an extraordinary person and her achievements are quite astonishing. The documentary introduces us to several other deaf-blind who are in even more difficult and frankly heart-breaking situations. One middle-aged woman lives in an asylum after the only person who communicated with her, her mother, died. We also encounter some who have borne this affliction from birth. This makes it especially difficult teaching them anything, some concepts becoming completely impossible. One of the most memorable of these scenes involves a 22 year old man who has never been taught how to walk, chew or communicate. We first see him sitting on the floor buzzing strangely while violently throwing a ball about. He seems to all intents and purposes like an infant. Incredibly, once Fini interacts with him she immediately makes a communication breakthrough. There are many unbelievable scenes such as this sprinkled through this documentary and it is a film that makes you pause and not only remember how lucky you are but also to ponder what being human is actually all about.

Story of Fini Straubinger who is "trapped" in her own body being both deaf and blind. Since the condition came on later in life she is able to speak and tells us what its like. We also watch as she goes around helping those like her. Communication is done via touching or writing on the hands. It becomes clear that the people in the film with this condition are trying to live full lives. An amazing film that shows us what its like not to be able to hear or see. Hopeful and yet unnerving-its not a state one really wants to contemplate having-its an important film since we see the world with a different set of eyes. Taking the matter even further Herzog and his crew also show us what its like for people born deaf and blind and how hard it is for them to even learn the basic things we take for granted. Moving. Haunting. Worth a look since it will make you reflect on how we get along.

LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS is an early documentary in the career of German film-maker Werner Herzog, a story laced with sadness and alienation that bears some stylistic similarity to Herzog's dramatic film THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER. This one's all real though, a documentary that proves to be depressing and uplifting in equal measure.

It's a documentary that explores the world of deafblind people living in Germany, controlled by a campaigning woman, Fini Straubinger, who makes it her business to travel the country and help those in need. What transpires is a travelogue fraught with unforgettable moments; moments that I don't mind admitting had me in tears on more than one occasion. The sequence with a 22 year old man who's never had any education or even contact with the outside world - he can't even walk - is the film's moving highlight.

Herzog lets his story speak for himself, although he makes some strong choices as director. Visits to a cactus house and a zoo are utterly engrossing and the addition of some classic music to the soundtrack really helps to tug at the heartstrings. Not an easy film to watch then, but one which is nevertheless thoroughly compelling.