Blindness | Review

An ode to the uglier side of the human nature, altruism is smashed to smithereens when the panic alarm is set off. Regarded as a work of genius in the book form, Brazilian helmer Fernando Meirelles reaches for an epic scale translation on fellow Portuguese-speaking native writer Jose Saramago’s novel only to fabricate an unflattering, nihilistic mess. With Blindness, the visionary who brilliantly detailed the do or die struggles in Brazil’s favelas takes on the aesthetic challenges with bravura, but it quickly becomes evident that this is a case of style without substance, – a pretty human drama filled with extreme sequences that are not necessarily disturbing, but instead, off-putting. Never quite sure on what tonality to employ, the Cannes film festival opener feels like a rushed project in badly need of a trim.

In the image of a world where race, color, creed and class system don’t serve any propose, Don McKellar’s trying and bruising chain of events screenplay overstates the obvious: a pair of eyes serve to distract its oblivious owner. The heavy-handed, modern commentary on society’s inability to be kind to thee neighbor is a poorly designed portrait of mayhem in its purest form – with narrative finding solace in the point–of-view of Julianne Moore’s character and minimally shared with a Danny Glover who acts as the film’s unnecessary narrator. The doctor’s wife (Moore), is a central character who finds herself in a solitary experience and is juxtaposed to that of one which is of solidarity for the rest. She becomes the official housemaid of a gated off community of the diseased, but she only becomes a major player in the mid section of the film, while the entourage, a collection of shortchanged secondary characters (Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga and Gael Garcia Bernal) come across as the united nations – emphasizing the notion of an undefined metropolis. Oddly enough, what is slightly confusing in Moore’s character is the representation of strength and vulnerability marred by an infusion of sadism. Viewers will be perplexed.

Perching from different points of the cityscape, Cesar Charlone’s camera angles give the edges of the English-speaking metropolis a universal pictogram of where the pandemic first exists and furthering the discussion of a dog eats dog type of world, where antagonistic forces exist even when the community is made up of only the weak, the confined, sewer-like spaces thematically describes humanity’s capacity for a lack of compassion and a tolerance towards degradation. You’ve basically got a cross between films like 28 Days Later and Lord of the Flies.

Stomaching the film’s length and unimaginatively laid out ending, Blindness will puzzle audiences rather than challenge them, and despite the international cast and the eminent well-placed fall release, the sordid nature of the project might limit viewer numbers.

Reviewed at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival (Section: Opening film for the Main Competition)

May 14th 2008.

120 Minutes

Rating 2 stars