OUT OF SIGHT

This offbeat feature documentary shatters stereotypes about the disabled in its portrayal of Diane Starin, a 34-year-old northern California cowgirl who has been blind since she was 18 months old. The film incorporates interviews, cinéma-vérit�Esequences, and dramatic reenactments to tell the story of Diane's rocky relationship with Herb Martin, a man in his sixties with whom she shares a love of horses. This intimate, unflinchingly honest documentary, with equal doses of western romance and soap opera, is a remarkably revealing and continually surprising portrait. It reveals the dreams and difficulties of Diane, not just as a blind person but also as a thoroughly modern, young single woman struggling for her independence amidst a real-life cast of colorful supporting characters. Although we see how Diane has learned to cope with her disability and now teaches special skills to blind youngsters, Out of Sight is ultimately as much about the emotional complications of real life as it is about coping with disability.

Directed by David Sutherland
1994, 85 minutes
Purchase: $79.95 Classroom Rental: $125

Closed Captioned

"Out of Sight is to blind women what Thelma & Louise is to sighted women."-The National Braille Press

"David Sutherland nukes the concept of the 'inspirational' film about a handicapped subject--and in its place substitutes something both more memorable and more compassionate...Few documentaries provide the edge-of-your-seat enjoyment that Out of Sight does. Come to think of it, few Hollywood movies these days give as good a ride."-- The Boston Globe

Subjects & Collections