It’s a shame that in the USA no one went to see this film. Unlike ‘I Am Legend’ which was a glossy action orientated apocalyptic film (with a big star) - ‘Blindness’ is just plain dark, grim and gritty. A realistic portrait of how quickly humanity can fall, and the fragility of our civilization.
In a city where everyone else is going blind (a bright milky white blindness), Julianne Moore plays one of the few who for some reason remains unaffected. When her newly blinded husband is carted off to an isolated ‘prison’, she goes with him. As the building begins to overflow with more and more quarantined, frightened and newly blinded people – it isn’t long before they begin fighting amongst themselves, wallowing around in shit and basically living in total despair.
Whilst those afflicted with this new blindness are in some ways sheltered from the full horror of their surroundings, Julianne Moore’s character can see it all. The decay, the bodies and the filth.
I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know how faithful the film is to it, but the way many of the characters treat each other is all too believable. There are also some impressive (and I’m guessing) non CGI created city sequences where the pockets of humanity wander hopelessly around deserted streets and smashed up cars looking for food.
So pretty bleak, but a fascinating watch with some very interesting camerawork and terrific performances from all the cast.
The ending? Hmmm.
Filed under: cinema, drama, entertainment, film, movies, sci-fi , v124, reviews, Blindness, Fernando Meirelles, Juliann Moore, Mark Ruffalo, City of God, Constant Gardener
Meirelles is cursed–first he creates a brilliant film like “City of God” and then all of his subsequent efforts are weighed against that initial offering. “Blindness” may be a perfectly fine film but how can he top his debut? Aye, there’s the rub…
I’m in solidarity with this review. The ending did leave me ho humming, but the cinematic experience of societal breakdown was outrightly fascinating.