Travis:
Two words to describe ‘Blindness’… bizarre and disappointing. In theory, the concept was great. The movie begins with a man suddenly and spontaneously losing his sight while driving through a busy downtown district. As a result, traffic is halted and the “very best” of people comes out. In an effort to assist the blind man, a pedestrian offers to drive him home. The pedestrian turns out to be a thief and con man, taking the opportunity to steal the blind man’s car after dropping him off at home. It’s a short-lived score, however, because the “whatever” that caused the man’s blindness is apparently contagious and the thief is stricken with blindness later that night. This progresses on to “infect” the remaining cast of main characters, including a specializing eye doctor (Mark Ruffalo), a high-class female escort (Alice Braga), a small boy and an elderly man (Danny Glover) who already wears an eye patch. In case you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the character’s names, it’s because they apparently don’t have any. No names are ever used in the movie.
The epidemic continues to spread as the main characters willingly place themselves in government quarantine, led by the doctor and his wife (Julianne Moore), who mysteriously ends up being the only human not affected by this “thing” of blindness. At first, the group fares well, reluctantly working together until more and more people begin to show up with the same condition. Before long, the quarantine ward is over-populated, food and water is running low and the health and sanitary conditions become a threat in and of themselves. The military gaurds outside treat them quarantined captives like lepers, refusing to help when needed or offer much needed additional food and medical supplies. The doctor’s wife (Moore) increasingly finds herself struggling with the realization that she’s having to care for an entire ward of newly blind adults, but continues to do so out of a sense of duty.
Things become even more difficult when ward three, led by “the king” (Gael Garcia Bernal), decided they are going to keep all of the food rations and distribute them as they see fit. This send the film into it’s somewhat downward spiral. “The King of Ward Three” (Bernal) adds an element of ‘Lord of the Flies’ while the situation itself gives the film an element of ‘Doomsday’ or ’28 Days Later’. This shift of power results in the rapid downfall of quarantine community, leading to some horrific scenes of humanity’s darkest sides. The middle portion of the film seems to dwell on the concept that when put into a situation like this, human beings revert to their most primal nature. This act of the story deals with the corruption of power and greed, fueled by the emotions of fear and paranoia.
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