Through a series of interesting interconnected first-act scenes, a group of people whose lives touch each other experience the titular phenomenon of white-blindness. White-blindness is characterized by the inability to see anything but a bright blank whiteness, which differs from the typical "blackness" of standard blindness. Oh, also, it seems that this white-blindness is infectious and spreads quickly to the core group of characters. These characters include Mark Ruffalo's opthamologist and his wife Julianne Moore, Danny Glover's benign poor old man, a frightened child, a thief, an Asian couple, and call-girl Alice Braga. Some of the characters have names, but I didn't really catch them. Strangely, Julianne Moore's character seems immune, but she'd rather be quarantined with her husband and take the chance of catching the disease than leave him alone. Our group is quarantined in an abandoned asylum by a frightened military who leaves the group's survival largely to chance. Moore struggles to hold the place together as the only sighted person, but it becomes harder and harder as more and more people fall victim to the disease. Eventually the entire asylum is filled with these victims, including a block of sociopaths lead by Gael Garcia Bernal. A few people try to get answers from the military guards but are shot down by the careless soldiers. Inside, Bernal has a gun and a blind friend whose birth-blindness puts them at an advantage over the newly-blinded populace. Bernal gains control over the food supply to the asylum and sets up a dictatorship wherein only those who can pay are allowed to eat. Moore resists making a move on Bernal out of fear that he will hurt others to get his way. Meanwhile, Ruffalo is tired of his wife taking care of him "like my mother" and has a quickie fling with Braga's call-girl. Eventually everyone runs out of goods to trade for food, so Bernal and his blind friend (who is quite an asshole, it turns out) decide that food will now cost sex from the female population. During one of these rapes, a girl is brutally murdered and the women, lead by Moore, decide that it's time to fight back against Bernal. Moore personally performs the assassination, ceasing to care if a few innocents are shot so long as he is taken out of power and his people are thrown into disarray. One of the women sets the evil block on fire, which spreads to the entire facility and forces everyone outside. Fortunately the military guards are now gone. Unfortunately this is because EVERYONE has caught the white-blindness. Our group wanders NYC trying to find food and shelter. Moore locates a locked grocery store stockroom and our group finds its way to Moore and Ruffalo's house, even picking up a dog along the way. As they begin to settle in and appreciate the sense of community and friendship they have discovered, the husband of the Asian couple regains his sight, giving everyone hope that perhaps they, too, will recover.
Yeah, I said "quickie plot synopsis", right? This is brevity in comparison with the actual film. One of the reasons this movie feels so long is that it's an adaptation of a novel, and like so many of its brethren the plot is entirely episodic to squeeze in as much material as possible. Don McKellar was the writer on this, and I have to believe that the guy has never studied the art of adaptation. You have to choose what works about the source material and build from there, not hand-pick a series of moments that you think are especially effective. Many events occur in this film, but because the cast is borderline ensemble and director Fernando Meirelles chooses to spend long stretches on visual "artistry", none of the events carry much impact and they are connected by the loosest of loose through-lines. Yes, horrible shit happens to essentially decent people, but it doesn't feel like it means anything. It's like the movie just wants to remind you that human beings can be horrible creatures. Oh, also, cinematography is purty. It makes the narrative so long and so boring that I found myself struggling to continue with the proceedings. Which isn't to say that every scene was worthless. Far from it.
What really works in Blindness are the moments between characters. The breakdown and rebuilding of the central relationship between Moore and Ruffalo is fascinating stuff. You get a sense in the early scenes that she's not entirely happy with the marriage. There's a tension between Moore and Ruffalo that feels like early-middle-age marital boredom. He's obsessed with his career and she doesn't appear to have her own, leaving her with far too much free time. What's great is that Ruffalo isn't a typical career-obsessed character who is unaware of his wife or his own emotional needs. In fact, Ruffalo seems just as frustrated as Moore by whatever blockage exists between them. The Asian couple experiences some classic Jin-Sun tension (yes, I love Lost, shut up) as he expects her to obey and she wants to help her fellow victims (this is especially poignant when she volunteers for the rape duty). Braga gets involved in Moore and Ruffalo's marriage in a triangle that eventually strengthens the marriage without sacrificing the audience's sympathy for Braga. As long as I'm mentioning the character dynamics, it's worth mentioning that the performances, with a few exceptions, are top-notch. Everyone fills their role with aplomb, giving characters a personality beyond what occurs on-screen. This might not have been possible without such fantastic casting. Ruffalo and Moore, for example, are critically-acclaimed actors in their own right, but they also carry a certain amount of audience baggage with them that the film exploits for the better. The only disappointment here is Danny Glover, whose line reads are strangely amateurish. This may be the fault of the script or the direction, however, as I've seen Glover perform strongly in other roles. In any case, the character dynamics and the performances thereof are fantastic and truly the only reason I was able to make it through the plodding, episodic, essentially meaningless plot.
As long as I'm ending that praise on a complaint, I want to register now my utter loathing of high-minded technical "artistry" at the expense of story. Meirelles really pissed me off, frankly. We give up crucial moments that could be used to forward a narrative for intricately-staged and beautifully-filmed visual poetry. Is it great to look at? Sure. Blindness is a visually stunning film. I watched a DVD copy but I'll bet the Blu-Ray is jaw-dropping. I don't want to take away from the man's ability to create a tableau that takes the breath away. But. Who gives a shit if the tableau doesn't go anywhere? Further, in a film that is about how unfortunately beholden we are as a society to our visual sense, it strikes me as laughable that so much emphasis is on the visual elements. When you take away the ability to see, all the other senses are necessarily heightened. If your narrative is concerned with the removal of sight, wouldn't it be more poetic and appropriate for the visuals to be the least interesting element? Wouldn't you want to heighten the narrative itself? And for the love of god, can "artsy" directors please, please, please stop using Philip Glass-style minimalist tinkly piano to evoke a sense of the dramatic? You just call attention to yourself, like you desperately want me to think your movie is artsy and important and meaningful. All it does is make me want to kick you in the beret-wearing teeth.
Whoo. Okay, that was a bit of hostility. Sorry about that. As before, here are some random thoughts:
- Clever menu: the choices are blurred, you have to select them to make them visible
- Interesting how people are trying to be helpful to the Japanese guy. This is a hopeful little message.
- The japanese couple has an AWESOME apartment!
- The switching focus between subplots is good, keeping me on my toes and interested
- Love Ruffalo's immediate reaction to Moore - "I'm infected, get away from me!" Great way to get the audience on his side. Also great to show him calling his colleagues right away, approaching the problem scientifically.
- Ruffalo breaking up the blind-dude fight... oh man, that was unintentionally hilarious! The fight is obviously, painfully staged. Suddenly the movie gets silly with speeches and over the top melodramatics.
- Not sure I get why these people were just thrown into this abandoned asylum. I get paranoia, but this is actually pretty cruel. Unbelievably so.
- Why is everything pushed up to 11? It's just way too intense. It feels like freshman acting class doing The World's Screamiest/Cryingest Monologues
- Holy shit... Julianne Moore is freckley!
- Fuck. This is all writing to theme. I refuse to believe this situation is at all realistic. I don't buy it.
- Almost an hour in, not really sure where the story is going.
- The born blind guy as more aware of survival techniques is clever.
- 65 minutes in. I'm fucking boooooored.
- Why the fuck aren't you letting us hear what Moore is saying to the hooker?
- The women walking in a row, holding shoulders is a great visual! Spooky as hell.
- Wow! The dynamic change with Moore taking charge was necessary. Was starting to feel very static.
(Two or three scenes later) What was the fucking point of changing the dynamic and empowering Moore if the fire thing is just going to take away that momentum? What the fuck is this movie's through-line?
- Story logic hole - if there's at least one blind guy who can help out, why aren't there more? Also, are all naturally blind people inherently evil assholes?
- So many utilities are automated, I find it hard to believe that they would break down this way. No water? No electricity? I just don't buy it.
- That said, the "gathering rain for water" scene is beautiful.
- It's like every few sequences is the start of an entirely new story. Can't they just pick one and tell it?
- Okay? I guess that was an ending?
Does the movie address the theme? Well, yeah. It's kinda the central conceit. Though to be fair, it's not really about blindness but more about how horrible we are to each other and how easily our society can fall apart if one of our basic survival mechanisms is taken away. So.... no, I guess it doesn't really address the theme. Nevermind.
Overall, I think Blindness is a movie to watch if you're interested in cinematography and/or acting. The performances are impressive and the visuals stunning. It's just unfortunate that outside of some pretty stellar character interactions the story leaves so much to be desired.
Until next time!
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