Leper

Vision Du Réel - La Muraille

Over 107 years ago when the disease was not yet understood and under control when someone fell sick with leprosy they would be sent out of society to live alone in caves to avoid the spread of their affliction. It’s only later that the disease was understood and became treatable.

The documentary did not address much about the construction of the sanatorium except to say that convicts that were sentenced to death for a crime were made to build the ramparts around the city. These were two and a half meters tall and broken glass was put on the top. The aim was to keep the sick in. The local community was afraid of the disease that they did not understand.