The Journey (1993)

Based on the moving portrayal of the extraordinary journey to Japan of 74 year-old Billie Sinclair, who is deaf, blind and mute. Billie has been deaf since the age of two and lost his sight at age ten, but despite this he is a dedicated traveler who funds his trips by weaving and selling baskets. The landscape of his travels is one of touch and smell, imagination and even memory, for he can still remember the time before he lost his sight as a child. This remarkable man has survived and thrived. His is not a handicap but a blessing for it has encouraged him to keep searching and learning. In Japan he rides a roller coaster, tries his hand at Judo and visits a deaf and blind acupuncturist. His world is so sensual, one almost envies it. This documentary achieves a miraculous thing; it transports those possessed of all their senses into a world where communication is by touch alone. And even more miraculously, this world does not terrify.