BLINDNESS had an intriguing concept and the trailer looked great. Unfortunately, the film ends up becoming less and less interesting as it goes on. I could see some director like deceased Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky tackle this and make it a very profound film. Just in the hands of director Fernando Meirelles and screenwriter Don McKellar (adapted from the novel by Jose Saramago). The directing sometimes is excellent and yet sometimes it feels too forced like the blur effects.

Julainne Moore is the wife of a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) who goes blind after catching the "White Sickness". This blindness virus spreads despite the government's efforts to contain it. The blindness victims are isolated and humanity starts to tear apart between teh various wards of blind people. The Doctor's wife pretends to be blind to be with her husband. BLINDNESS is a misfire. The only explaination it offers for the "White Sickness" is a punishment by God. We hear of no scientific explaination except for a pad performance by danny Glover as he tells the story about the scientific conference held to explore the cause. The film tries to force situations like when the women volunteer to be raped to get food for the men. It is like the blind men had no spine because they were afraid of starting a war between Ward 1 and Ward 3 (who somehow get hold of all the food). Then the ending just is lacking. If you watch either of Tarkovsky's two sci-fi films, SOLARIS and STALKER, you could see how someone like him could make a much more intersting take on BLINDNESS. Instead the film becomes blind as the filmmakers seem to have lost sight of the film itself.

this movie review is (c)10-6-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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