my brief thoughts on.... 'Blindness' (2008)

Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore should be more than enough to instill a lot of confidence in the filmgoer to see this film.... i love them both and look forward to each film that comes out with them in it.... the idea of them together just sounded too good to be true.... the great thing is that they waited for the right project to work together.... this has a great script, great direction, and great cinematography.... it has a bit of a zombie movie feel, but with blindness being the disease not zombie-ism.... it's a very dark and sad film, however that just makes it that much more powerful.... and everyone in this film commits themselves 100% to the project.... i got wrapped up in the storyline from the opening scene and i didn't look away until the very end.... and even after that, i kept thinking about what i'd seen.... the idea of being struck down with blindness for no reason is horrific.... but being the only one with sight is almost worse.... this film presents what depths of inhumanity people will resort to when put in a difficult situation and little to no choices.... some of what occurs on screen made me sad to be a part of the human race.... i know that it was only a made up story, but i found myself cringing in some spots and wanting to look away.... this, to me, is an example of excellent filmmaking.... if you can illicit a physical or emotional response from your viewer, than you've created something special and unique.... 'Blindness' succeeds on this level and so many others....

on a normal day like any other, someone is suddenly struck with blindness.... there is no logic or reason as to why, but soon more people are blinded.... soon the entire city is blind, all but one woman.... during the course of the outbreak, the city has moved the blind people into a quarantined building.... eventually even the caretakers are struck blind and the people are forced to fend for themselves.... none of them know that one of them can see.... and she works hard to keep it a secret, despite all the horrors she sees occuring.... things continue to fall apart, until the entire city is basically destroyed.... more happens, but i am not going to be the one to ruin the ending of a great film....i'm so happy to see an original idea in a sea of re-makes and re-hashes of older movies.... the theme is similar to other end of the world films, but the way it's presented is what makes it different.... you can tell that a lot of time, thought and energy went into the production of this film.... it would be a welcome addition to anyone's DVD library and is a film that has a shelf life.... a long shelf life.... i was happy to give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.... i really thought this was something worthwhile and i always love seeing Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo.... they're excellent at what they do and seem to bring a certain reality to each of their performances.... this may not be the feel good film of the year.... but despite that, you'll find that the ending is solid and well done.... i can't even think of anything that i didn't like about this film.... it wasn't exactly perfect, but it was a damn good try at it.

if you like this, also watch: 'Right At Your Door', 'The Signal', and 'Dead Air'