This fascinating, terrifying parable outdoes any of the so-called apocalyptic shockers that use the end of the world as a plot device.
Watch film trailers now »For while Fernando Meirelles's Blindness takes place in a very real world of haves and have-nots, it hints at the baseness of the average man and shows how quickly morality, humanity and decency can give way to the survival instinct – and murder.
Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo are the husband and wife at the core of this tale that begins with an epidemic of blindness – the white sickness – striking at the heart of modern life.
People lose their sight in an instant, and there is neither explanation nor cure. Governments and administrations rapidly go into panic mode. The infected are quarantined. Their quarters are quickly overwhelmed: by people,
by filth, by faeces. And as society breaks down, a new order rises.
But this is far more than just another take on the idea that the one-eyed man rules in the land of the blind. Instead, it looks hard at what drives people to commit evil acts, and tests the boundaries of love and loyalty to their absolute limit. This is Lord of the Flies for the blind – a Lord of the Eyes, if you like.
Don McKellar's script, based on the novel by José Saramago, is utterly fearless in the way it tackles the breakdown of the human condition. Power games, intimidation and fear soon replace co-operation and civility. When food becomes scarce, it is hoarded by a gun-toting self-appointed leader (Gael García Bernal). He demands a reward: cash, jewellery and valuables for food. When the money runs out, he demands women.
This, then, is the moment drama turns to horror. The growing unease that surrounds this dreadful tipping point is heightened by the knowledge that Moore can still see, though only Ruffalo knows it. Armed with her sight (and a pair of scissors), she waits for
her moment.
Performances in Blindness are uniformly excellent, though Maury Chaykin comes close to stealing the entire film as a naturally blind accountant who, in this new world of the recently blind, takes on a position of horrible importance. Creepy doesn't come close.
Want a vision of a very real and credible apocalypse? This is it.
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