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Last Updated: Nov 14, 2008 - 12:49:26 PM |
* out of five
The protest wagon hit theatres again this week as Blindness drew protests from the National Federation of the Blind, who mounted their largest protest in the organizations history, objecting to the film’s depiction of the blind as uncivilized, savage animals. While their protests are completely founded, people who are blind should have one consolation.
At least they don’t have to watch it.
Based on the novel of the same name by José Saramago, Blindness shows a city that has fallen victim to an instant “white blindness.” Quarantined in an abandoned mental hospital, those affected start turning on each other as the meager food supplies quickly run out. Unbeknownst to most of the group, one woman in the ward (Julianne Moore) still has her sight, eventually helping seven strangers out of the quarantine and back into a city that has lost any semblance of civilization.
As a rule, I don’t tend to agree with protesting films, but the blind community is spot-on in boycotting this latest piece of Hollywood schlock. Why in the world would cases of sudden blindness cause the downfall of civilization? It’s not like 28 Days Later or I Am Legend, where the disease causes people to feel nothing but rage and hatred. It’s blindness. Sure, it takes some time to adjust and can drastically change your lifestyle, but it doesn’t completely change your personality. Society would learn how to function again without turning into a third-world country.
Scenes within the ward are just as ridiculous. While the behavior of people in that situation is fairly expected, the reaction of the government is far beyond any semblance of believability. Soldiers ignore requests for first aid kits or more food, knowing that there was little there to begin with. Would it have been that difficult to throw some more over? It was a lazy move done solely to up the tension. They could have achieved the same effect much more realistically by not having the soldiers there at all, keeping the people locked up through something like an electric fence. Instead, we once again get that beloved cliché of uncaring soldiers who laugh about killing people.
If the plot itself is bad, the pacing is horrendous. At just around two hours, Blindness is about an hour and a half too long. Nothing really happens until over an hour into the film and even then, is over so quickly that it doesn’t really make much of a difference. The ending is just flat-out dumb, serving only to render the rest of the film completely pointless. Had it ended when the characters escaped the ward, then it probably could have been a pretty decent movie.
Ironically, the only real saving grace in the film is the cinematography. Shots within the ward are hauntingly beautiful and the milky-white transition shots are effective. Judged solely on camera work, Blindness works well; it’s just too bad that all that plot had to get in the way.
I think I might have to step in line with the National Federation of the Blind here. The blind community shouldn’t be the only ones outraged that they are portrayed as uncivilized; the entire movie-going public should be outraged that filmmakers would think that we are so uncivilized as to sit through this pile of garbage. Fernando Meirelles, you owe me two hours of my life back.
Blindness has a runtime of 120 minutes and is rated R for violence, sexual assaults, language, sexuality, and nudity. It was viewed at Commonwealth 20.
nderatto@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421
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