Edo Schipper This is such an amazing piece of work; put in the shoes of someone who loses his sight, halfway through his lifetime, which is one of my personal worst nightmares, I was in tears throughout most of this film. Sight is so essential to my every being, I cannot describe how awful it felt to me, to put myself in the shoes of someone losing perhaps the most important sense of all. It was absolutely devastating to be brought along this journey into nothingness with this film. And yet, as John puts it, it's still a gift bestowed upon him, just like this film is. The whole is so beautifully, atmospherically put together. The cinematography matches the subject so incredibly well, it works with how you could possibly show a person's story who can't see. For a person to overcome this disability, to make the most of it, to thrive on it, despite relying on all senses but his sight, is so amazingly inspirational. I found myself challenging myself to experience my senses, other than my sight more fully. I walked around my house with my eyes shut, I stood outside listening to the rain falling, I familiarised myself to my surroundings. No film to date has ever had this effect on me.

prisleyfebrian-79751 A semi-documentary drama, directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, produced by The New York Times, is a memoir of a theologian and author, John M. Hull. The 90-minute documentary was developed from Hull's cassette-taped audio cassette that gradually lost sight in 1983. The main film is a second project of Middleton and Spinney who previously worked on short films, as well as a Hull record of approximately 16 hours. Middleton and Spinney then selected and compiled the parts that best demonstrate Hull's physical and psychological expression when he loses his eyesight and how it affects his personal emotions and family life.The film is somewhat unusual, as it recounts the memoirs of a man's audio recording and his struggle with the process of his blindness. Middleton and Spinney beautifully visualize Hull's audio recording with his wife, Marilyn. With the brilliant performance of the actors who berlyp-sync harmonize the actual words spoken by John and his wife, managed to strengthen the visualization of this film.It is, however, an irony when we enjoy a visual presentation of the emotions and feelings of a person who loses his visual abilities. As if this film can make us understand Hull's struggle to control his emotions when he lost his eyes slowly. But this is what Middleton and Spinney did. Using Hull's audio diary, they elegantly visualize every Hull word that is equally beautiful.The cinematographer, Gerry Floyd does an amazing job. By taking close-up pictures, we see detail in the Hull world. As if we could feel the texture of the walls, the surface of the wooden table, even the gentle face of his wife. Makes us feel what Hull feels when he has to grope around the walls and surrounds while walking. We are invited to feel Hull's emotions as he loses his ability to see, feel more detail everything around him.Accompanied by a musical score with the right portion, bringing our atmosphere and feelings into every Hull's speech, with no added soundtrack. The most memorable and memorable moment is when Hull and his wife dance in the living room accompanied by the soundtrack of The Mamas and The Papas, making us feel the warmth of love between the two.John not only lost his eyesight, but it took him to lose one by one other things in his life. How can he read, take notes, research, teach at college? What about his other responsibilities? As if that were not enough, Hull's blindness also snatched his past. He slowly loses his memory of the visual around him, even his wife's face. He also had not had time to see the face of his son Lizzie and 2 children last born after his blindness.John reveals to us that he believes some of his brains are dying because some of them no longer have the power to process images. He said he was hungry for the stimuli he could not get. The frustration of being uselessly effective as a parent is also a heavy burden in his mind, and several times in his audio recording, we can almost feel the depression John has to endure. At first, Hull wrestled against the signs of his blindness even until he was totally blind. He recorded the books he had to read to remain active as a teacher. He continues to reject the reality of his life. But gradually, the resistance was in vain. He also learned to accept reality."Was I going to live in reality or live in nostalgia? I would not live in nostalgia, but would live in reality. And become blind, "he said. The dream he experienced and the way he described it was a beautiful bitter torture, for it was the only way to bring a new picture to his world. "It's a present," he said. "It was not the gift I wanted, but it was a gift." At that point, his question became: "It's not why I got it, but what would I do with it?" Hull learned to be blind. It makes it an advantage, rather than its flaws. He felt things around him in a way he had never felt before."How can you blind and sighted people really understand each other? How can man understand women? How can the rich understand the poor? How can the old understand the young? Can we have insight into other people? This answer to the whole question is at the end of Hull's quote statement that "To get our full humanity, the blind and the sighted people need to meet each other." A beautiful conclusion of a journey seeks meaning in feeling beyond vision and hearing.

jvbofjc Every once in a while a film is made that captures an experience many of us will never encounter, but are richer for learning about said experience. John Hull's academic approach to life has provided a prolific archive of sound recordings documenting his experience with his blindness. Directors/ Writers Middleton and Spinney have provided a cinematic experience of blindness for the seeing. This poetic and inspiring film introduces the world to a remarkably bright, sensitive and expressive human being.

Smallclone100 This is a semi-dramatized documentary focusing on retelling the audio memoirs of a man going blind. If that sounds slightly unusual, it's because it is. The cast lip sync the actual recorded words spoken by John Hull and his wife who detailed his descent into the debilitating world of visual impairment in the 1980s.The memoirs capture the pure physical and psychological turmoil experienced by John as he experiences this loss of vision, and as he says he battles to live in reality instead of this nostalgic world that his brain is forcing upon him. The dreams he experiences and the way he describes them are beautiful bittersweet torture - as it is his only way of conjuring new images into his world, yet he wakes every morning crestfallen, as he remembers he cannot see, and they were just dreams. One night he dreams he can see his new child that was born after he lost his sight. The way this scene is directed (by Peter Middleton & James Spinney) is as magical as it is emotive.John expresses to us that he believes part of his brain is dying as a portion of it no longer requires power to process images. He says he feels hungry for stimulation that he just cannot obtain. He also forgets what his wife looks like, which must be pure agony. The frustration of being rendered effectively useless as a parent also weighs heavily on his mind, and some points on the audio tapes you can almost feel the depression that John must be battling.Dan Renton Skinner does an unbelievable job as the taunted John Hull. His facial expressions transport us into this hell that John must have been in and his performance is one of the most captivating of any portraying an illness / disability that I can remember.I couldn't wait to splash down a few words about this film in the hope that just 1 or 2 people watch it as a result. That has to be a sign that of its' quality.Beautiful agony