Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga

A doctor's wife becomes the only person with the ability to see in a town where everyone is struck with a mysterious case of sudden blindness. She feigns illness in order to take care of her husband a...( read more  read more... )s her surrounding community breaks down into chaos and disorder. Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago.

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49% liked it

9,644 ratings

Critics

41% liked it

147 critics

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Directed by: Fernando Meirelles

Release Date: May 14, 2008

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DVD Release Date: February 10, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (3,516)


  • October 7, 2009
    ''The only thing more terrifying than blindness is being the only one who can see.''

    A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant "white blindness". Those first afflicted are quarantined...

    Yusuke Iseya: First Blind Man

    On release, Blindness was strangely labeled...( read more) the new Children of Men, even comparisons were drawn to the dystopia I Am Legend. Even though it has actresses from both (Julianne Moore and Alice Braga), it results as being worse than both combined, it is safe to say, Blindness shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Alfonso Cuaron's exceptional Children of Men. The quality speaks for itself if you compare these projects, and even I am Legend had it's CG flaws and unoriginal strains.

    However, that doesn't mean not to miss out on Blindness as it is a decent enough drama with some solid performances. The film opens very intriguingly, an Asian man in an unnamed city goes blind at the wheel, this is the unknown start of the epidemic and traffic chaos has already erupted around him. Obviously then director Fernando Meirelles' view of the worlds morality in this film is shown as a man appears to help him, only to kick him out of his own car and drive away.
    Perhaps this is where the main fault lies, the film tries so hard to hammer home a message that society has lost sight, using literal blindness as a metaphor for all that is bad in human thought and action. No wonder various foundations have protested against the concept and story itself.
    It might have been wiser to let the viewers decide for themselves how this city would react and keep things relatively ambiguous. People going blind doesn't necessarily mean they will become selfish, indifferent and aggressive yet overall the film puts this point across repeatedly. An example is the doctor played by Mark Ruffalo, he completely changes in character, and even in the middle of the crisis, he cheats on his wife.

    I think what saves Blindness overall though, and the reasons for me giving it 3 stars is that it is nicely structured and evenly paced while looking visually stunning, it is supposed to be set in an unidentified city and there are no clues at all to where it is filmed which is successful, and adds to the experience. The ruined and deserted city caused by the aftermath is also terrifically done.

    The performances are definitely worth a mention, Julianne Moore is an excellent emotional core as one of the few humans immune to the blindness and carries the film. I also liked Alice Braga, Yuseke Iseya and Gael García Bernal who has fun as one of the quarantined victims who tries to take over the wards for everything they have to achieve personal profit. However, I was disappointed with Mark Ruffalo who is normally a fine actor (Collateral,Zodiac) but he struggles with the material and delivering his character here. Danny Glover isn't great either and his clunky voice-overs don't help matters any further.

    You will enjoy this film more if you can see past the over emphasized moral message and plot-holes. It would take too long to go through them all but for example: everyone is blind yet not once does anyone call each other by name, it would surely help the situation! I can't understand what Meirelles was trying to achieve with the non-use of name calling for the characters.
    Overall, Blindness is an average standard drama, that is worth seeing for the visuals and mediocre performances. However, if you want something similar and in my view much better, watch the superior Children of Men. Let's face it, anything Fernando Meirelles ended up doing after his masterpiece City of God, would have had serious problems living up to the imposed pressure of equaling such an achievement. Blindness doesn't even come close to the shadow of greatness City of God basks in, which to me, shows complacency and a lack of utilizing the same potential. Possibly the source material is to blame in Meirelles favour, only time will tell when we see the work from his next conjecture.

    So Fernando Meirelles, a film about Blindness...I don't see a point, thats for sure.
  • August 22, 2009
    I really hope civilization wouldn't fall apart if we all went temporarily blind - I mean give blind people some credit, movie.
  • July 26, 2009
    For a dystopian "end of society" flick, there are far better entries. The movie quickly isolates itself to a small quarantine area (probably for budget reasons) of those afflicted with the "blindness". Within the quarantine, the social order quickly breaks down when it becomes ov...( read more)ercrowded and chaos ensues with one faction of men controlling food and threatening the other residents.

    The film does okay at communicating the blind affliction, but there are many flaws in what the people can and can't do (for example, one would still be able to wipe their own ass but a main character says that he can't).

    Just a very lukewarm film, and if it weren't for the great scenes that take place after the quarantine camp, I would give it 2 and 1/2.
  • July 22, 2009
    Julianne Moore stars as the only woman who can see, when everyone else in the city, including her husband are struck with a sudden blindness epidemic and are forced into quarantine.
    I found this film to be particularly hard to sit through. I kept looking for excuses to get up, b...( read more)ut I eventually got through it all. It was long, it seemed to drag on without ever really getting anywhere and I found the rape and abuse scenes difficult to take. I also didn't care for the way the film was shot, in flashes. I know that they were trying to get us to see what they saw, but it just seemed pointless after the first time.
    This story has been done a thousand times before, Dawn Of The Dead, Outbreak, 28 Days Later... The story it self was lacking. They never really explained anything about why or how this was happening. I was disappointed with the acting as well, from this cast of well known actors.
    Blindness in one word...excruciating. At least those who suffered this horrible fate would be spared the pain of having to actually see this film.
  • July 19, 2009
    For a film listed with a playing time of 1 hr. 58 min., Blindness seemed to play on endlessly. This film was supposedly a parable and the parable was lost in the acting and bad direction. Not even Moore, Glover and Ruffalo could save this film from itself. Overuse of a white m...( read more)ilky screen to represent the infection suffered by the characters became annoying. Blindness plays like a bad B film.
  • November 4, 2009
    that was really dumb ...
    and i hate it really bad ....
  • October 29, 2009
    Circulez il y a rien a voir...
  • October 24, 2009
    There was a really good idea for a film, however the filmmaker didn't execute it correctly. One major problem is that film is unfocused. It starts off really well, but shifts focus a bunch of times. The other is that the pacing is off. The performances by all the castmembers are ...( read more)really good and make the film worth watching. The film did remind me of films like Outbreak, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, The Happening, and I am Legend.
  • October 23, 2009
    (2008 Director: Fernando Meirelles--The Constant Gardener& City of God, a personal favorite) AGAINST leanings to the contrary, I DO wish to watch this film....this is on a friend's "favorite books" list (on www.goodreads.com)...Adapted from the novel by Nobel prize winning author...( read more) Jose Saramago..This is at least a R rating...warning: NOT for the little ones overall rating R but in parts certain violence + sex mixed with survival themes. NOT recommending it for under say 11 yr old ('nuff said?)

    This is a wonderful study of how people react in a crisis & a statement perhaps on the depravity of some peoples. Contagion of blindness...tho there is nothing visibly wrong with the eye according to medical tests. A physician (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife (Julianne Moore) are among the early ones to be infected something the doctor contracted from a patient at his hospital. However, his wife refuses to stay behind when he is forcibly carted away by the military to a quarantine holding center. She (Juliane Moore) does NOT lose her eyesight but keeps it a secret. "Man With Eye Patch" (Danny Glover) wears an eye patch and joins the group as the only one in Block One who has a radio! This is their first glimpse into what is occurring in the outside world.

    Chaos and power struggles happen. There is not enough food provided to start out with. More and more people are added to the Quarantine Compound but without provisions being supplied. No one is allowed to leave; military police surround the Compound and shoot anyone out of line. I had not read the book but will. The Doc and his wife have a pretty deep connection which rather moved me in this dark study.

    At one point a Minister;s voice can be heard preaching about the Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus) and relaying the story of him being blinded along the road to Damascus, on his way to persecute the early Christians. It is the famous story of Saull being blinded & being led to meet up with someone whom an Angel told him he would see once he arrived in Damascus. This priest restored (healed) Saul's eyesight and he changed his name to Paul and wrote much of the New Testament--a 180 degree turn around. Paul perhaps held the knowledge necessary for the Gospel itself to be propitiated.

    "I know that part inside of you with no name, and that's who we are, right?"

    CAST...Taxi Driver-Joe Pingue Receptionist-Susan Coyne Boy: Mitchell Nye "Mother of the Boy" -Fabiana Gugli The Accountant--Maury Chaykin Policeman-Joe Cobdon Maid-Amanda Hiebert Woman in Sunglasses(Prostitute)-Maria Inger Other Woman of Ward One-Toni Ellwand & Nadia LItz Minister of Health-Sandra Oh Sergeant-Michael Wandner Hoodulm-Billy Otis (led a gang of terrorists interned within the Quarantine Ctr)
  • October 14, 2009
    Only if your'e bored.........

Critic Reviews


November 21, 2008
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

Rhubarbed melodrama. full review

October 18, 2008
Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com

Blindness finds its way out of the darkness and into a muddled plotline that does the bestselling book it's based on no favors. full review

October 3, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The film is an often thought-provoking metaphor. But as a thriller, it becomes dreary. full review

October 3, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Too many scenes strike the same note, and, at times, Blindness seems like a premise in search of a story, and an allegory in search of a meaning. But in its methodical and uncompromising way, it gets ... full review

October 3, 2008
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Fernando Meirelles' awkward, repulsive yet richly imagined film uses sightlessness as a trigger for the breakdown of society. full review

October 3, 2008
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Blindness is not a great film. But it is, nonetheless, full of examples of what good filmmaking looks like.

October 3, 2008
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

If you've read Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm, you'll know how things progress. full review

October 2, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It is an allegory about a group of people who survive under great stress, but frankly I would rather have seen them perish than sit through the final three-quarters of the film. full review

October 1, 2008
Armond White, The New York Press

Scene by scene, Blindness self-destructs. One begins to resent the art-crowd cast's willingness to do anything remotely nihilistic. full review

September 29, 2008
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

Blindness feels at once honorably serious and way too pleased with its own soothsaying. You stagger from the dimness of the cinema, beaten down and longing for the light. full review

View more Blindness reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Muktidaya
    February 2, 2009
    bull shit.
  • suprabuddha
    October 8, 2008
    The best movie of 08 a definite oscar nominee The only other film this year that even came close to breaking new ground was pixars' WALL-E.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    October 7, 2008
    Anyone else feel that stylistically, BLINDNESS was like THE HAPPENING meets BABEL?

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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