The basic plot is everyone in the world goes blind and only Julianne Moore's character can see, until the end of the film that is.This is a mostly dystopian film that was very unsettling and disconcerting to me. It showed how feral and inhumane we can and will become when something like this happens. I have no doubt that human beings on a mass scale will act like the people in this film when the bad juju starts to happen. I actually think what the characters in this film did to one another will be seen as pretty tame when the shit hits the fan. And while I found this film very disturbing and unnerving, I also thought it was well done and it was a better film than what the corporate media critics would have you believe, they slammed it but it's actually a very good film.
Julianne Moore turns in yet another great performance, seriously, she's amazing in this film. Mark Ruffalo as the eye doctor who goes blind is very good too. Turning in chillingly performances as the film's titular 'bad guys' are Gael Garcia Bernal and Maury Chaykin. Don McKellar does double duty in this film, he's a petty bad guy who is among the first to go blind and he also adapted the screenplay from a Jose Saramago novel.
Despite the heavy subject matter and the horrible things the characters do to one another, the movie ends on a hopeful note when one of the first characters who goes blind gets his sight back. I took it to mean that soon the rest of the world would also regain their sight and maybe they'd regain some of their humanity as well. Or perhaps be better people than they were before. If I didn't think that, then I couldn't recommend this film as highly as I do. It's not for kids and it may give some of you nightmares, but I still recommend it.
5 comments:
Good metaphor - the whole world going blind and doing horrible things to each other. I just watched Slumdog Millionaire last night so I'm thinking along those lines. I hate people sometimes.
I tried to read the book since it was so well-reviewed but couldn't take it so I definately couldn't watch the movie. But I remember when they were filming it in Toronto the cast was actually blindfolded and locked in the old peneteniary they used as a location and they were all horrified by the experience.
Fear of going blind is probably #2, if not #1, on most everybody's list. Sounds like a scary movie.
I've been wanting to see this since I learned it was being made into a film. Glad to hear it lives up.
The book is astounding...
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