Face of our Fear

A film made with great commitment and fury about the image our society has of people with a physical handicap. Dwoskin, himself physically challenged since the age of nine as a result of polio, incorporates his own experiences in the film. Face of our Fear also comprises a more general and historical view of the place or rather the lack of place of physically handicapped people in the western world.The use of fragments from feature films such as The Elephant Man, Visiteur du soir and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame to illustrate the argument, is especially effective. He wanted to construct his film so that the viewer can keep making minor discoveries about the world of the handicapped, which is basically an everyday world for Dwoskin.Within Dwoskin's oeuvre, which is characterised by visual experiment, Face of our Fear is a strikingly accessible film; you could even describe it as a pamphlet, in the most positive possible meaning of the word.