A Church supported clinic for blind children in Lisbon, Portugal hires a teacher, blind himself, who has a radically innovative pedagogical method. Instead of teaching these children to get around with canes, he would train them to imagine their environment and navigate with sound echoes (like bats). English actor Edward Hogg is charismatic and totally realistic in the role of the blind teacher; and the child actors are equally authentic. The film achieves much with a remarkable soundtrack of subtle environmental sounds which takes the viewer right into the minds of these blind children and their teacher. I don't think I've ever seen a film portray what blindness involves as well as this film does. It's a true tour de force by an assured filmmaker, which only falls short story wise when it tries to insert a rather pedestrian love story into an otherwise intriguing premise film.
Review of Imagine
