Blindness
by Eric Sloss, Writer
Blindness is a malady that is greatly feared by the public. If a choice was given, more people would probably choose to go deaf rather than blind. At least with deafness, you can see read people’s lips to help with the condition. Blindness robs people of seeing their loved one’s face or watching a setting sun. It is especially cruel for people who have seen all their lives and have this taken away from them. It can be jarring and unnerving. That is the premise of the movie, “Blindness”. The movie examines what people do when they lose their sight and how they cope with it. It is not an easy movie to sit through.
Brazilian director Fernando Meirellas helms “Blindness”. He previously did the brilliant “City of God” and the well received “The Constant Gardener”. Those two films were not simple movies that dealt in issues in black and white. In “City of God”, the realm was the mean streets of Rio. Meirellas showed how hard choices can be when all around you is crime. Many times circumstances beyond your control dictate what path you take in life. In “Blindness”, he shows man’s inhumanity toward man. People act differently when a calamity befalls them. Some fall by the wayside. Some take charge, while others get angry.
“Blindness” starts simply enough when a single person goes blind in traffic. The man describes his vision as milky white. Meirellas and his cinematographer Cesar Charlone do a great job throughout with the colors and shadings in the film. You can feel the sensation of going blind and what this person might be seeing.
Soon there is an epidemic. The blind are all hauled off to a facility. The two main protagonists are an eye doctor and his wife. They are played by Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore. Ruffalo treated the first blind man and was puzzled by his condition. The next day Ruffalo was blind. He doesn’t know for sure if his patient caused his blindness or not. Miraculously, Moore does not go blind. She keeps this fact a secret when they are hauled off to the facility with other blind people.
There are different wards in the facility. Everyone has to fend for themselves. When they do get food, it has to be divided up. The reality of the situation is tough to take at times. Filth and excrement fill the screen. Hope is lost among many of the inhabitants. Guards with high powered rifles patrol the building, so no one gets out. If you ask too many questions or try to escape, you will be executed.
Ruffalo takes a leadership role in his ward. He is guided by his seeing wife. Moore is good once again as a person thrown into an impossible situation. The stress she feels as being able to see all the horrors around her is shown in her face and reactions to situations. It is a delicate acting job that could have been mishandled by a less talented actress.
Things turn even bleaker when the people in Ward 3 hijack the food and demand payments for the rations. Gael Garcia Bernal has fun as the “King of Ward 3”. The corruption of power is hard to overcome. Once everyone gave their valuables for food, Ward 3 demands that the other wards send their women over. It is moral dilemmas like this that propel this movie from being just okay. What would people do when presented with this dilemma? Meirellas does an effective job with shadings and not fully showing the brutal display that occurs next.
As stated before, “Blindness” is not for the squeamish. The images presented are tough to take. The movie though is visually arresting and presents interesting ideas on the behavior of human beings in tough situations. It would have been nice to know the cause of the blindness, but that is a minor quibble.
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alice Braga, Danny Glover