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Notes on Blindness

2016

Pete Middleton, James Spinney

Documentary, Self: John M. Hull, Dan Renton Skinner, Simone Kirby

6.8

214

Documentary In the summer of 1983, just days before the birth of his first son, writer, theologian and professor of religion at the University of Birmingham John Hull went blind. In order to make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began keeping a diary on audiocassette. Upon their publication in 1990, Oliver Sacks described the work as 'the most extraordinary, precise, deep and beautiful account of blindness I have ever read. It is to my mind a ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Stephen Holden The New York Times	"Magnificent documentary (...) The tone of the narration is so wrenchingly honest that the film never lapses into self-pity or relies on mystical platitudes."
		John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"A deeply sensitive interpretation of the subject's reflective testament on disability. (...) Notes on Blindness is more than sufficient to prove that sightlessness, however unwelcome, is a richer experience than we may assume."
		Katie Walsh Los Angeles Times	"'Notes on Blindness' offers powerful insight on emotion, spirituality, life and disability. (...) Achingly poignant and startlingly immediate"
		Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Hull’s wisdom, and the agility of his insights as he struggles to make sense of his condition, form the basis of this elegant, evocative and deeply affecting documentary."
		Mark Kermode The Guardian	"Seeing the light despite the darkness. The fear of losing one’s sight is perfectly captured in an inspiring docudrama (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of five)"
		Dave Calhoun Time Out	"Powerfully visualise some of the more abstract themes of Hull’s blindness (...) this thoughtful, illuminating film goes some way to inhabiting his thoughts. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)"

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