The Phenomenon
Blindness was a very interesting movie. The characters had no real names, except for some nicknames needed to advance dialogue. The characters weren’t as important as the phenomenon. The title, Blindness, is the topic of this film. While there were “lead” characters, I would venture to say that the phenomenon is the lead while the people it affects were the support and vessel for it’s story.
Telling a story about blindness is a challenge. Movies are by their very nature a visual medium. Sound elements and story telling go a long way, but compelling visuals are a mainstay of the art. Director Fernando Meirelles did a fantastic job in the portrayal of a pandemic of blindness in an unknown city. Using a combination of visual effects, well placed white outs, and awkward camera angles Meirelles was able to translate the desperate and awkward sensation of blindness into a visual form that helped to evoke emotion and give the film a sense of panic.
More Horrifying Because of its Realism
In the story, there is a large outbreak of blindness, with no known cause. The government quickly steps in to quarantine those affected, putting them in substandard care with military guard to prevent their escape. One lady, played by Julianne Moore, is immune. Her husband was an eye doctor who went blind, and she followed him into quarantine to stay by his side.
The doctor’s wife ends up caring for the newly handicapped population, as they have trouble caring for themselves. Simple tasks, like finding a bathroom, become impossible when you are in unfamiliar settings. What was once a cold and sterile looking quarantine becomes littered with broken trash and defecation. Only the doctor’s wife is there to care for the people, and nobody there knows she can see.
Without supervision, without some sort of order, democracy and order dissolve. Soon, a monarchy emerges as those with power abuse those who have none. At times the film becomes unrealistic, and questions of continuity and man’s inhumanity towards man arise. But the resolution of the situation makes for a satisfying movie experience. The overall feeling of helplessness, along with the decay of social order in Blindness makes it terrifying to watch. Not in a traditional horror movie sense, there is something deeper in a fear of something that could actually happen.
I won’t give away the end, or the key plot points. While this film slips from reality into a bizarre story… it’s not totally unfounded. I found the character development good, and the story to be engaging. Some scenes I found hard to watch, one particularly brutal involving rape. This is not a movie for immature viewers, and not one I’d recommend for a family.