Rama’s SCREEN

Don’t overlook this one because BLINDNESS is worth seeing. It might not make a lot of sense at times but you just have to admire the production quality, not to mention how it toys with your sight. I’m not trying to go Aristotle on you but the story… though seems familiar, it does have layers and layers of deep meanings to it. It’s an eye-opening journey that reminds us of the bad things humans are capable of doing when one element, we often take for granted, is taken away from us and how it’s so similar to our state of being before it even ever happens.

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine. “Blindness,” starring Academy Award®-nominee Julianne Moore, Gael Garcia Bernal, Mark Ruffalo, Sandra Oh and Danny Glover, is a psychological thriller about the fragility of mankind. Adapted from Nobel Laureate José Saramago’s masterwork, the film is directed by Academy Award®-nominee Fernando Meirelles (“City of God”) from a screenplay by Tony Award-winner Don McKellar (“The Drowsy Chaperone”).

Oscar nominated director Fernando Meirelles brought back his City of God colleague, Oscar nominated cinematographer Cesar Charlone and the result is simply outstanding. Just like Janusz Kaminski managed to make us fee what it’s like to be in the shoes of a person stricken with stroke in the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Charlone has successfully managed to make us feel what it’s like to be blind and to see society slowly decaying due to panic, distress, and frustration. I’m not a cinematography expert but I can tell a good one when I see one and this is a really damn good cinematography.

I’m really impressed by Meirelles’ directing, he knows his style and he doesn’t go astray from it. He definitely knows what is expected of his actors and has the keen sense of vision of what chaos would look convincing in order to bring the adaptation to life. Overall, great artistic presentation. Another director who I think is in the same level is Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain)

Julianne Moore’s acting is remarkable. This woman is as talented as she can be and after having been nominated four times, it makes you wonder what the hell the Oscars are waiting for. In BLINDNESS, she plays the wife, the caretaker, the only person who can see,  she faces responsibilities in a quarantine containment full hundreds of blind people who would pee on the floor because they either think they’re in the restroom or they just don’t give a rat’s ass anymore.  She’s the kind of woman any man would be grateful to have because she stands by her blind husband through it all even after he deliberately cheated on her. You can see Julianne Moore’s amazing performance as she takes on this character tested by stress and burdens that she doesn’t want but somehow feels obligated to carry. Juliane Moore, great actress!

The story, correct me if I’m wrong but whether this it’s politically driven or not, it is a very good subject for sociology and philosophy class. A group of people all of a sudden turn blind, those who are healthy starts to panic and out of fear, they do the first thing any panic people would naturally do. Contain the sick in one place much like a prison or a concentration camp. When humans can’t figure out something, rather than coming up with a solution they tend to just isolate that something by hiding it away and hoping someday it would disappear all by itself. As for the blind imprisoned in the facility, we witness how society works, each ward suddenly forms their own group or organization, and they come up with rules and regulations and legislation even democracy. But one ward decides to take over as prime ruler and then anarchy erupts.  Morality plays with corruption, War becomes inevitable and self-destruction abounds, thoughts of surrendering keeps knocking on your door. Sounds familiar? it’s like the history of the world. When sh*t hits the fan, everybody’s for himself but in the end, only those who work together… survive.

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