Blindness

It seems that every now and again the entertainment industry decides to all rush in the same direction at the same time with a similar idea. In the 1980’s the world became obsessed with Nuclear War and our viewing habits took a similar obsession. Now with everyone concerned about the damage we are doing to our planet similar things are happening again. In 2008 we had I Am Legend which put a man in New York alone after a terrible virus (a movie made twice before), while televisions obsessions included Jericho a town after nuclear war, The Survivors (back after 22 years) saw a virus bring about the end of days, and Dead Set in which the world ended with zombies. Now however you have a far darker view through the eyes of acclaimed director Fernando Meirelles (City Of God, The Constant Gardner) in the movie Blindness.

Stumbling into Blindness you may be fooled into asking where this two hour movie can lead, its synopsis being that a man suddenly goes blind at the wheel of his car, everyone whom he comes into contact with goes blind also. By the 20 minute mark you have a major percentage of the American population blind and in quarantine. The harsh reality of the movie is that it can take you places you neither expected or wanted to be going, this is no quirky end of days movie with a purpose to prove the humanity of the world; instead you get something harsh and un-relentless sinister, it could only be a true depiction of the reality of such an incident.

With the movies cast in the dark (which is not strictly true) which includes Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Alice Bragga, and Don McKeller, you’re left with the delightful Julianne Moore to take centre stage. In her need to be with her husband (Ruffalo), she feigns blindness in order to stay with him. Strangely she is unaffected by this horrendous illness, and finds herself nursemaid to the blind and ill, while pretending to be blind herself, for fear of having her good nature abused by inhabitants of the quarantine station.

It’s through the eyes of Moore that the story plays out; the blind are rather disturbed by what has happened but quite accepting of the hand that God has dealt them. On the other hand though while having a general understanding Moore sees the bigger picture. So when it seems that the outside world has forgotten about the blind it’s down to someone to take martial law, sadly it’s not the role for Moore and falls to Gael Garcia Bernal who names himself The King Of Ward Three to take control of the situation. And this is where the normal niceties of life and the movie part company. What follows is something distinctly un-Hollywood, fights over food lead to those that have money or jewellery being the only ones who can eat, and when this runs out the only form of cash available for starving inhabitants is the oldest trade in the book, women sold for sex.

Blindness is by far the darkest sinister and generally uncomfortable big budget movie to come out of Hollywood for years. It has a distinctly gritty European feel about it; corridors covered in urine and excrement, women traded like they are nothing and some generally unpleasant sex scenes follow that despite the inability for the viewer to actually see anything, leads them to believe they have just seen something so harsh they were one step away from pornography. But all these terrible things make up the “charm”, (for want of a better word) of the movie. If the world came to an end through virus, it would not be pink soft shades, and a beautiful vision of returning to a back to basics existence, it would be hard, bloody and life ending not life changing.

Blindness has some incredibly driven performances, with Moore making all the sacrifices and Ruffalo looking on quite literally blind to the world, almost losing all comprehension of what life was like before he lost his vision. The storytelling will make you very angry from the offset, but this is not a negative aspect more one that will burn the movie into your brain like no other. If you like your movie tastes a little more light hearted then this is no movie for you, however if your prepared to watch a movie that will stay with you for life, then this is the one.