Film Review: Blindness Fumbles Awkwardly

By Connect2Mason Reporter Emily Culley

The new dramatic thriller "Blindness" opens today. It's the story of the “white blindness” epidemic that is quickly taking over a major city in the world. The first victim of the "white blindness" is an Asian man on his way home from work, while stopped at a light his vision turns startling white.

Contrary to standard blindness, the young man sees a white light, with soft subtle movement—but nothing prominent. He immediately goes to the doctor, who is baffled by the man's condition. Shortly after all the patients who were in the waiting room with the young man also suffer from the same blindness.

In an effort to stop the blindness from spreading, the government forces the victims to habitat in a dilapidated insane asylum. Every day, more and more victims are sent to the asylum, where a struggle for power ensues.

The doctor's wife is the only one who does not suffer from this bizarre ailment. Initially, she pretended to be blind to help take care of her husband while in the asylum. She became their unspoken representative shortly after the victims began growing exponentially.

Somewhere between the contamination and the battle scene for the food rations there is something lost in this movie. The plot never quite thickens enough to become something substantial, while the characters are desperately clinging on to some hope that there may be a climatic moment within the movie.

The sheer fact that everyone in the movie—with the exception of the doctor's wife—is blind does create some comedic moments. However, the portrayal of the scenes does not suggest that these moments were intended to be comedic.

On the other hand, the moments which were intended to be comedic turned out to be more awkward than anything else. Especially giving the circumstances of the condition and the movie, the comedic moments become more awkward and less relevant to the movie.

Grade: D