For those who live everyday without the ability to see, a world without sight is enough of a challenge to overcome, as these people must live their lives fully without vision to guide them. However, a world filled with people plagued by sudden blindness is simply a horrifying thought. The chaos, destruction and loss of life to which one has grown accustomed would be devastating for anyone left to witness it. However, Fernando Meirelles’s new movie “Blindness” isn’t horrifying, just upsetting.
The movie, an adaptation of Jos? Saramago’s novel of the same title, or “Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira” in Saramago’s native Portuguese, begins with one man exclaiming he’s gone blind while driving his car. Soon more people are panicking because of their sudden blindness. This phenomenon is described as a “white blindness” but has no known cause because the people affected have perfectly healthy eyes. The government decides to take action by quarantining the sick to a crude hospital, but the building eventually overflows with people trying to survive without their sight.
Mark Ruffalo (“Zodiac”) plays an ophthalmologist who is one of the first to go blind after treating a blinded patient. As he’s being taken away to the quarantine, his wife, played by Julianne Moore (“Children of Men”), fakes blindness in order to stay with her husband. Ruffalo and Moore lead the pack in the beginning, keeping Moore’s sight a secret. However, “the King of Ward 3,” played by Gael Garcia Bernal (“Babel”), soon turns the three wards against each other in an attempt to rule the blind.
Blindness could be a terrifying experience after years of sight, but the one thing that might be worse is having your sight while the rest don’t. The audience is put in the position of Moore as she is forced to watch the destruction of these people: The ground becomes covered in garbage and urine, and people walk around naked and dirty.
The acting throughout the film is one of the few highlights from “Blindness.” Ruffalo and Bernal do an outstanding job of portraying the blind, and the audience sympathizes with their characters as they stumble and constantly walk into walls. Moore successfully captures the hearts of audience members as they watch her downward spiral into depression; she shows us the dark side of being the “lucky” one.
The film reaches its goal in making the audience sick to their stomach from the vile behavior of the characters. However, the story is one that, if everyone were to go blind, may not be far from the truth about the character of humans. Additionally, screenplay writer Don McKellar successfully adapts Saramago’s novel into a gripping story of chaos and suspense. Although the story is one to put you at the edge of your seat, there are other factors which, combined with the plot, make the movie less enticing.
The editing in “Blindness” adds nothing to the story; it attempts to put us in the position of those blinded by making the screen into a blank, piercing white for brief moments throughout the film. The effect is disorientating, but instead of adding to our involvement with the story, the audience is just plain confused. The white screen, simply put, blinds you and distracts you from the story. This whiteness, added to the superimposing of shots throughout the film, works only to the detriment of the quality of the time. In the end, the editing isn’t as serious as the film is supposed to be.
The overall impression of “Blindness” is the same as that of Stephen King’s “The Mist”: You will be successfully sucked into the plot and be interested in the outcome of the story. However, it’s not a movie you’ll ever want to see again. The images are disturbing and unsettling, and it’s safe to say this is not a feel-good film, but more a movie for people who enjoy watching greedy, cruel people and horrific images.
2 stars out of 5
