ILDEFONSO: THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD
A documentary short by Zack Godshall about Arturo Filadelfo Reyes “Idelfonso,” a man born profoundly deaf, who grew up without language for the first 27 years of his life. The story features American Sign Language teacher, Susan Schaller who encountered Idelfonso while working as a sign interpreter at an education center for the deaf, and was instantly fascinated by him and his condition.
The condition, of course, being languagelessness, an idea so rarely discussed that there’s no better word to describe it than the clumsy long one I offered, which auto-correct wastes no time objecting to with it’s intolerant red underline.
Schaller was determined to teach Reyes to sign but first had to find a way to show him what language, as a concept, itself was. She would go on to write a book about their experience, A Man Without Words, after which Godshall’s documentary is titled. Reyes’ insight into describing how he viewed the world as an adult without language can provide a valuable perspective into consciousness and the role language plays in its utility. However, what’s more evident is the isolation and locked out feeling Reyes felt prior to being able to share with others and incorporate himself into his community through the power of communication, a cultural power many of use take for granted.