BLINDNESS
SHOCKING…. BUT NOT COMPELLING
by Vishal Verma
A PVR release (in India) of a Miramax Films (in U.S.)/Focus Features (international) release of a Focus Features Intl. presentation, with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Movie Central, Fiat, Ontario Film & Television Tax Credit, BNDES, C&A, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, of a Rhombus Media (Canada)/O2 Filmes (Brazil)/Bee Vine Pictures (Japan) production. (International sales: Focus Features Intl., London.) Produced by Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Sonoko Sakai. Executive producers, Gail Egan, Simon Channing Williams, Tom Yoda, Akira Ishii, Victor Loewy. Co-producers, Bel Berlinck, Sari Friedland. Directed by Fernando Meirelles. Screenplay, Don McKellar, based on the novel by Jose Saramago.
Starring
Doctor's Wife - Julianne Moore
Doctor - Mark Ruffalo
Woman With Dark Glasses - Alice Braga
First Blind Man - Yusuke Iseya
First Blind Man's Wife - Yoshino Kimura
Thief - Don McKellar
Accountant - Maury Chaykin
Boy - Mitchell Nye
Man With Black Eye Patch - Danny Glover
Bartender/ King of Ward Three - Gael Garcia Bernal
Technical Analysis
Blindness should have been an eye-opener. It is the latest from Fernando Meirelles, director of City Of God and The Constant Gardener, and it's based on a novel by a Nobel Prize-winning author, Jose Saramago. But alas! The prudent & realistic ‘City Of God’ maker this time gets fake and murky.
The film gets bogged down stylistically in bleaching of images and flashes of white, which come across as it gets off to an arresting start as people start losing their sight in an unnamed, North American metropolis
The vibrant visual style Fernando brought to "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener" by the "City of God's" editor Daniel Rezende, is however less anxious and that diminishes the film in spite of its crisp craft.
Meirelles adopts a no less fussy visual. He often floods the screen in luminous white to mimic the sensation of blindness. As a result, this deliberately artificial effect gives the film a stagy, self-conscious air, a feeling only heightened by the book-inspired conceit of not giving the characters names.
Fernando Meirelles' slickly crafted drama rarely achieves the visceral force, tragic scope and human resonance of Saramago's prose. Despite Julianne Moore & Gael Garcia Bernal powerhouse performance, the film still asks for more conviction and leaves quite a lot to be desired.
Offering an unconvincingly dark view of humanity, as most of the newly blind sink into degradation of all kinds - bullying, theft, rape, murder, it becomes incomprehensible that will anyone among the audience seems to have any interest in the causes of the infection, or in possible cures, or in why Moore alone is immune. And why Moore can,t control the show when she is the only one of the leading characters is an expert in eye disease and can see.
The picture ends on a note of hope, but most of it full of symbols and metaphors instead of believable people – giving no idea to the viewer what if anything, it is trying to say. But it has its share of ups like the striking performance from Moore & Gracia in the flick which is stunningly shot, using washed-out colours and a predominantly white palette. In addition, Meirelles orchestrates some extraordinarily tense scenes that stays with you.
However, the film turns a blind eye to scripting & it’s hard to believe Moore's character would allow such terrible things to happen before taking action.
The Story
Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles (CITY OF GOD) brings Jose Saramago's much-loved novel BLINDNESS to the screen with this ambitious adaptation. Like Saramago's book, Meirelles chooses to forfeit names for his characters, instead spinning BLINDNESS around the plight of a doctor and his wife (respectively played by Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore). A blindness epidemic strikes an unnamed city, forcing the government to put many citizens in quarantine, including Ruffalo's doctor. Unable to conceive of life without him, Moore's character feigns blindness and joins him in the grimy high-security institution where visually impaired citizens are kept. Their attempt to survive in the rotting facility, which quickly falls into disrepair and chaos, forms the backbone of Meirelles's movie. There's a twist in the tale as Ruffalo and Moore's characters struggle to lead the blind to a place where they can come to terms with their condition, and Meirelles makes an unsettling journey.
Business Analysis
This international co-production has made its way in the festive circuit and gained enough curiosity for being a Cannes opener amongst festival followers. Opened to packed houses at the IIFF, Goa, ‘Blindness’ theatrical run in Indian theatres is however limited due to its minimum appeal & interest amongst Indian audience for such pseudo and pretentious film.
Other Credits
Camera (color), Cesar Charlone; editor, Daniel Rezende; music, Marco Antonio Guimaraes/Uakti; production designer, Tule Peake; art directors, Joshu de Cartier, Tiago Marques Teixeira; set decorators, Erica Milo, Patricia Hinostroza Perla; costume designer, Renee April; sound (Dolby Digital), Guilherme Ayrosa; supervising sound editor, Alessandro Laroca; re-recording mixers, Lou Solakofski, Armando Torres Jr.; visual effects supervisor, Andre Waller; visual effects, O2 Filmes; stunt coordinators, Alison Reid, Helio Febronio; line producers, Nicolas Aznarez, Chris Romano; associate producers, Claudia Buschel, Austin Wong; assistant director, Walter Gasparovic; casting, Susie Figgis, Deidre Bowen. Reviewed at Eros Mini Theatre, Mumbai on Jan 05, 2009. Running time: 120 MIN. Rated: A.