DVD
REVIEW: BLINDNESS
02/09/09
SYNOPSIS: When a
sudden, inexplicable epidemic of blindness sweeps a major
city, health authorities round up the victims and quarantine
them in Blindness, an apocalyptic thriller from director
Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardner, City of God). The
wife (Julianne Moore) of an afflicted doctor (Mark Buffalo)
feigns blindness in order to accompany her husband into
internment and finds that fear and brutality have infected
the closed community. An all out war erupts between inmates
as criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak
over food and other necessities. As the sole sighted inmate,
The Doctor’s Wife is the only one who can put a stop to the
violence, but saving her loved ones may mean sinking to the
level of the worst of her adversaries. Julianne Moore gives
a performance of startling strength and vulnerability in a
frightening portrait of a society thrust into a vicious
struggle for survival.
REVIEW: Bringing a
world wide known literary masterpiece to film is not an easy
task. There has been many successful stories that had lost
their magic when they were adapted to the big screen. This
type of projects are usually more complicated and
challenging than any other project, since it does not only
have to appeal to average movie fans, but also they have to
gain the approval of the already fans of the book. These
last ones being the most complicated to please, since they
would not miss a chance to contrast it against the original
version. Many of these adaptations end up satisfying either
one of these groups, but rarely it manages to satisfy both.
Fortunately for Jose Saramago, the adaptation of one of his
most famous novels fell in the latter category. Blindness is
one of those movies that excels in depicting Saramago’s
story in a highly emotional and seductive level.
Fernando Meirelles’s version of Saramago’s novel is one of
the best novel to movie adaptation I ever seen. It seems
that Fernando and his staff took the time to read and
understand what the author wanted to describe and converted
it into an exhilarating piece. Mr. Meirelles did everything
right: the photography, the settings, the lightning, the
camera effect, and of course, the cast. If it is true that
Fernando did an outstanding job directing this movie he
would not have accomplished a third of what it did in this
film if he would not have actors such as Gael Garcia Bernal
(Y Tu Mama Tambien) whose performance as King of ward Three
surpasses any of his previous roles, Julianne Moore whose
role is one of the most convincing and enjoyable. She is the
Doctor’s wife, in every single scene she depicts all the
emotions with such realism that for moment the audience feel
that it is not longer watching a fictitious character but a
real person. Mark Buffalo, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya,
Yushino Kimura, and of course Danny Glover, make and
excellent supporting cast adding chemistry and variety to
the film.
Another great aspect about the movie is that it is highly
suggestive. The director and staff (sound and visual) create
a magnificent atmosphere and show enough footage to make the
audience see images that if shown in the screen it will be
an MA rated movie. The camera work is fantastic there are
some scenes where the audience is put in the position of the
characters making them see and experience what they are
feeling at that time. And one of the most important aspects
the fans of the book would appreciate about this movie is
that the director and writers try to be as faithful as
possible to the book, the locations, characters like in the
book are not named given the impression that it could happen
anywhere, and some scenes are shown just how the book
describes it.
A major set back is probably that the movie starts slow, the
first introductory scenes seem to be to long to an audience
who is not used to the book, in them the characters are
introduced in a slow pace that many people might considered
a waste of time, to me it was necessary to build a more
intimacy between the audience and the story. also the
depiction of The king of ward three in the movie is depicted
in a slightly different way than in the book, his
personality is not innately evil like in the book, but it
evolves according to the circumstances, nonetheless, Gael
performance and version is equally impressive developing
this character that does not create a major distortion from
the original version, plus makes the audience feel more
sympathetic for this character.
I still do not understand how this movie did not do well in
the box office, it has all the elements for an enjoyable
time. The acting is spectacular, the photography, the
settings, the music all gathers together creating an
atmosphere of helplessness while addressing important
characteristics of the human condition like mixing emotions,
physical needs, morality and social reactions, and although
the movie might cause a sense of depressiveness trough its
development, it also shows us human qualities that make us
comfortable and leave us with a sense of hope. I recommend
this movie for any person who enjoy the book, people who do
not know anything bout it, and in general for anybody who
wants to see something different than the average
apocalyptic movie. Blindness is without a doubt one of the
most intense, smart movies that I ever seen.
VIDEO:
Widescreen (1.85:1)
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby
Digital
Subtitles - English Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES: The DVD does not have a vast menu
of special features, so in this department for fans it might
disappoint, nonetheless, for my taste it has just the right
amount for entertaining purposes. I have to complement the
people who thought of the menus, they just put you in the
mood for the movie. The deleted scenes to my consideration
were well excluded, but there were two that could have made
it without altering the movie.
“A Vision of Blindness”- Making of Blindness
Documentary: This is not your average making of feature that
I always complain about. This featuratte was actually
enjoyable since it is not the same interviews or impressions
from the directors and actors that you normally see in DVDs.
Yes it has that but it also takes us around the world, to
the whole process, plus the reaction from the author Jose
Saramago (55:30).
Deleted Scenes: 5 Deleted scenes with written
introduction form the director explaining why it was removed
from the movie, out of the five two could have made it to
the final product. Rapes and Doctor’s wife and king of ward
3. (approximately 6 minutes)
Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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