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Blindness
2008 121 min Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom R 16+
★6.1
Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
Director: Fernando Meirelles
🎭 Based on
«Blindness»
byJosé Saramago
Trailers
Description
When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.
Budget:
$25M
US Gross:
$3.35M
Worldwide:
$19.84M
Starring
Julianne Moore
Actor
Mark Ruffalo
Actor
Gael García Bernal
Actor
Awards
Cannes Film Festival 2008
— Palme d'Or
Saturn Awards 2009
— Best Actress
Key opinion
Blindness is a polarizing adaptation that effectively conveys a haunting, visceral atmosphere and themes of human fragility, but it suffers from inconsistent narrative focus and uneven pacing. While Julianne Moore receives widespread acclaim for her anchoring performance, critics remain divided on whether the film offers profound philosophical insight or merely presents a bleak, disjointed survival exercise.
| Acting | Julianne Moore provides a powerful, anchoring performance that effectively conveys the burden of being the only sighted witness to the collapse of society. | |
| Cinematography | The cinematography effectively uses stark, sterile visuals and a palette that mirrors the disorientation and hopelessness of the central premise. | |
| Theme | The film effectively captures the brutal, primitive shift in human behavior once societal structures are stripped away by the epidemic. | |
| Screenplay | Opinions on the screenplay are divided: some appreciate its faithful, unflinching adaptation of the source material, while others find the narrative structure incoherent and lacking in dramatic tension. | |
| Pacing | The film's pacing is a subject of debate, with some finding the slow, repetitive nature of the survival scenes immersive, while others find the experience tedious and exhausting. |