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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  Blindness
Posted by: Zombie Sean, October 3rd, 2008, 9:38pm
Okay, here it goes...


BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS







This was a very interesting movie, that contained suspense, dark comedy, and some a lot of awkward sex and rape scenes.

The movie is basically about the entire world (or country, it's not exactly said) is hit with an epidemic that causes people to go blind "all of a sudden." It starts out with one man, who then infects another, who then infects another, and so on, until the entire world (country, city, whatever) becomes one big blind...thing. Except for a woman, played by Julian Moore, who is the wife of an eye doctor who, ironically, has gone blind himself. He is quarantined, and to make sure he is okay, his wife pretends to be blind so she can be sent to the same place as him.

So, as we started out, we focus on different people, each having small scenes, and soon, once the eye doctor and the eye doctor's wife (those are their names, according to IMDB. Now that I think about it, nobody knows their names, so we're left with their titles/labels) go into the quarantine wards, we later find out that those who they've come in contact with also join them in the wards.

Soon, more and more people flow in, coupled with some strange music that I feel did not fit the mood of the film at all, until all the wards are completely filled with dozens of infected victims. Days...Weeks go by, and soon, the place becomes entirely unsanitary, with feces and piss staining the floors and walls, dirty clothes on the floors, people laying in their beds naked, etcetera. And, unfortunately, they're contained by some rather asshole-ish army dudes who soon have fun with the blind victims, discovered by the eye doctor's wife, who seems to be the only person left unaffected by the virus.

Then we pass on, discovering that there are leaders and things get out of hand, you know, food runs low, most of the men wanna rape the women, things just get out of control, when finally, all the lights go out, and it turns out the entire area, the entire city, is blind.

That's when we see what is outside the walls of the quarantine building, and I must say, it's a pretty strong sequence. You see streets littered with trash and wrecked cars, people walking around like zombies, even one grotesque scene that shows that even the dogs can't find food so they begin to feast on dead corpses.

What I really liked about the movie is that it starts immediately with the blindness and doesn't stop until the very end where you're very happy that people start to regain their vision.

What I didn't like about the movie was how Julian Moore's character was immune to the virus and where the virus came from, though, I wasn't really expecting an answer for some reason.

It was a very artistic movie, also, how pretty much almost every scene change started out with white, which was what all the blind people were seeing. The soundtrack bothered me, though. That's something that either makes the movie good or not (some times) for me.

But other than the soundtrack and the unanswered questions, it was a good movie. Long, and the quarantine building started to get boring after a while because it was the same thing over and over and over again, but it added to the effect because you're so used to seeing inside the building that you forget what the outside world looks like, and then when you finally see it, it's just as bad as the quarantine building.


Sean
Posted by: NiK, October 4th, 2008, 4:44am; Reply: 1
I'm really looking forward to this film.

Can't wait to watch it. Its from the director of City of God, Fernando Meirelles :)

I read the script and it looked good. Let's hope the movie pays off...
Posted by: Don, October 4th, 2008, 7:52am; Reply: 2
I, too, am quite intrigued by this film.  You can watch the first five minutes on Yahoo's movie site:

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3630429/10003101
Posted by: BoinTN, October 6th, 2008, 3:34pm; Reply: 3
I saw this over the weekend a put up a review here: http://frightflicks.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-blindness.html.  I think it's one of the better films I've seen this year, and operates on a very high level of filmmaking.  Mereilles may just be a genius.
Posted by: BoinTN, October 9th, 2008, 1:23pm; Reply: 4
I don't agree at all, but, yes, it is an aggressive, difficult film.  If you're looking for something to make you feel good and a movie to entertain you, and nothing more, this isn't that film.  This is a brutal exercise and not for the faint of heart.
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