Blindness (2008)

Director:

Fernando Meirelles

Writers:

José Saramago (novel)
Don McKellar (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Lust is blind.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Blindness | Quarantine | Doctor | Epidemic | Illness

Awards:

12 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Yusuke Iseya	...	First Blind Man
Jason Bermingham	...	Driver #1
Eduardo Semerjian	...	Concerned Pedestrian #1
Don McKellar	...	Thief
Ciça Meirelles	...	Driver #2
Antônio Fragoso	...	Concerned Pedestrian #2
Lilian Blanc	...	Concerned Pedestrian #3
Douglas Silva	...	Onlooker #1
Daniel Zettel	...	Onlooker #2
Yoshino Kimura	...	First Blind Man's Wife
Joe Pingue	...	Taxi Driver
Susan Coyne	...	Receptionist
Danny Glover	...	Man with the Black Eye Patch
Fabiana Guglielmetti	...	Mother of the Boy (as Fabiana Gugli)
Mitchell Nye	...	Boy

Also Known As:

Blindness (Japan: English title)
Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira (Brazil)
L'aveuglement (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence including sexual assaults, language and sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Canada | Brazil | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Netherlands:16 | Brazil:16 | UK:18 | Canada:14A | Japan:PG-12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Ireland:15A | Singapore:M18 | Portugal:M/16 | Germany:12 | Chile:14 | Argentina:16 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-15 | Peru:14 | Taiwan:R-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | France:U (with warning) | Mexico:B15 | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R18

Filming Locations:

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Rhombus Media

Trivia:

In addition to cutting it, Julianne Moore dyed her signature red hair blonde for the film. This made her very uncomfortable because people were giving the new color so much attention.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the Doctor's wife is boiling water, there should not be any sound, because the kettle does not have a whistle cap on it.

Quotes:

[first lines]
First Blind Man: I'm blind.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#8.30)" (2009)

Strange... But still very good

With "Blindness," Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles dispenses with the polite approach of "The Constant Gardener" in favor of the gritty, daring style of his acclaimed "City of God." Adapted by Don McKellar from Jose Saramago's novel about a sudden epidemic of sightlessness, the film is an often dreary allegory for these uncertain, perilous times. Visually nervy, beautifully acted, intense and philosophically compelling, it struggles to connect emotionally as it wrestles with the challenging source material. It opens in an unnamed major city as people start suffering total white blindness; the government, fearing infection, herds the early victims into quarantine camps. At one camp the afflicted include an ophthalmologist (Mark Ruffalo) accompanied by his wife (Julianne Moore), who's faking blindness to stay with her husband. It later turns out she might be the only person in the world with vision. As it becomes more fetid and desperate, the fend-for-itself camp becomes a symbol for humanity's historical inhumanity. A group led by an ex-bartender (Gael Garcia Bernal) commandeers the food rations, demanding valuables and sex. The ensuing scenes are nearly overwhelming despite being shot in near darkness, a sensory-deprivation gambit that is mostly successful. The last act, as a band of camp survivors makes its way through the eerie city searching for shelter and nourishment, vaguely points to a redefined society in which blindness is a fundamental equalizer.