by Doris E Rufli

Created on: October 19, 2008

After initially not even wanting to go see this movie because it was too lifelike' at least where government conspiracy' and overall panic mania carried out on the backs of everyday people yet again are concerned I am glad I did go in the end. Granted, it was at least partially down to reading the book from which the story was adapted into a feature in fact, I finished reading the novel in the morning and headed straight for the opening screening in the afternoon, never looking back.

Blindness opens as does the book with a man (Yusuke Iseya) stuck' at a traffic light suddenly having been struck blind. Mind you, this blindness does not involve total darkness on the contrary, the sufferer only sees white, a bright light that cannot be switched off. Naturally, there is the usual tooting and hollering directed at the car and its driver in the way of heavy traffic, however, a good Samaritan' (Don McKellar) quickly comes forward offering to drive the newly blind man home, only to end up loosing his own sight after stealing the first blind man's car.

The first blind man (we never learn his name which goes for all those afflicted in both book and movie) ends up at an eye doctor's office with his wife (Yoshino Kimura) being admitted as an emergency ahead of everyone else despite some of the waiting patients' complaints. No cause can be found but the ophthalmologist (Mark Ruffalo) is not about to give up, reading book after book after his wife (Julianne Moore) has long gone to bed and until he literally is struck blind with the white light, too.

In the morning he confesses to his wife that he's gone blind, initially pushing her away for fear of infecting her and subsequently getting the ball rolling for those afflicted to be quarantined in a disused mental institution. Before too long all the doctor's patients and those connected to them are reunited in Ward One with the other wards also filling up quickly. However, the white blindness (as it becomes known as) does not only affect lawabiding citizens but also brings the criminal element into the asylum and they pretty quickly take over the already inadequate food supply. Their ever increasing demands for payment from other inmates' to pass on the meagre meals available soon get out of hand. What they have not taken into consideration, though, is that there is one person whose eye sight is still intact

The poignant message Nobel prize winner Jos Saramago seems to convey with this story is that people of today rush through life without so much as a thought for its every day beauty nor the people around them. The enlightening' blindness literally forces everybody to slow down, start valuing what they have and relying on one another for simple survival. With other words they are obliged to take notice of both their surroundings as well as the people in it.

The absolutely magnificent cast from boy to elder was brilliantly captured by director Fernando Meirelles, making this easily the absolute must see movie of 2008!

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