Fernando Meirelles

USA | 2008 | 120mins | 35mm | Colour

Adapted from Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago’s masterwork, Blindness is an epic tale about the sheer resilience of human nature at the most dangerous of times. The action takes place in a city which is ravaged by an epidemic of instant ‘white blindness’. Those first afflicted are quarantined by the authorities in an abandoned mental hospital, where the newly created ‘society of the blind’ quickly breaks down. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hoarding the meagre food rations and committing horrific acts.

There is, however, one eyewitness to the nightmare. A woman, whose sight is unaffected by the plague, follows her afflicted husband to quarantine. There, keeping her sight a secret, she guides seven strangers who have become, in essence, a family. She leads them out of quarantine and onto the ravaged streets of the city, which has seen all vestiges of civilization crumble. Their voyage is fraught with danger, yet their survival and ultimate redemption reflect the tenacity and depth of the human spirit.

Meirelles has crafted a film of absolute beauty, despite the extremities depicted on screen. His unique visual approach to telling the story results in breathtaking imagery representing the victims’ experience. His commanding treatment of this apocalyptic fable forces us to question our own social institutions, but also reminds us of our life-affirming ability to protect ourselves from harm at all costs.