Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Blindness Blu-ray Movie Review

Great film, very good Blu-ray release.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 31, 2012

I'd rather die than stay like this.

Blindness offers an eyes-wide-open glimpse into humanity instantly deprived of a single asset and the subsequent depravation, the sudden absence of morals, the very essence of mankind lost. it's a film about the rapid deterioration of man, offering a grim, hopeless look at what happens when the status quo is shattered, when a moment turns the world upside down, when comfort zones and routines are broken and an admittedly frightening but certainly not paralyzing element throws a wrench into thousands of years of evolution which has led to a fixed norm. As people are robbed of their sight, they are later robbed of their possessions, then their dignity, their humanity, and finally their very souls. The film asks what they will and will not sacrifice to stay alive, what they will and will not do to maintain a glimmer of hope in a white-out world. The film is very reminiscent of the recently-released Michael Biehn picture The Divide; it's not quite as dark as that end-of-days Horror picture, but Blindness is certainly a grotesque, tough-to-stomach picture that pulls no punches of its depiction of a world gone figuratively dark and literally blindingly bright.

Not blinded.

If people were to lose one sense, would they lose all their sense? That's the basic question behind Blindness, the story of a middle-aged optometrist's wife (Julianne Moore, The Big Lebowski) who discovers she is, for whatever reason, different from everybody else. Her husband (Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island) sees a patient (Yusuke Iseya) who is stricken with a sudden blindness. But instead of everything going dark, the world becomes blindingly white. Soon, others fall victim to the same phenomenon, including his doctor. The government quarantines all those inflicted with the blindness. The optometrist's wife is spared, but she remains by her husband's side and feigns blindness to remain with him. They are taken to a secured, secluded facility protected by armed guards. At first, conditions are acceptable. However, as more inmates arrive, supplies dwindle, tempers flair, divisions form, and the humanity slowly erodes in favor of a new order where the few control what little food comes in and distribute it on a whim or in exchange for whatever they may desire within their own personally-created hell. Can the many survive the will of the few? What is happening outside? Can life go on as it was, or will it forever be blind to goodness and decency?

Blindness proves to be one of those films that's hard to watch but impossible to resist. It's a figuratively dark and gloomy picture about the worst man has to offer and some of the best he can be in the most difficult situations, even if that means regressing inside and out, traversing the darker side of life to maintain a glimmer of hope in the light. The story is unique and supercharged; it's an end-of-the-world movie with a twist, where humans become savages rather than zombies or creatures with rattled minds and lost consciences. It's a unique take, in a way, on the "last man on Earth" scenario, but here it's the tale of one woman who retains the gift of sight in a world where all others have it taken away. The picture is deliberately slow to develop but engrossing in its setup; it builds up characters and even makes it matter in which order they are introduced and under what circumstances. It becomes a little jumbled in the second and third acts, with a larger population of characters; darker themes; and grimy, hopeless visuals; but it's here where the movie explodes into dramatic chaos. The movie goes deep into the abyss of humanity lost and forced into an unthinkable situation, where mere blindness is really the least of the problems, even if it is the catalyst for all that follows. The picture becomes mired in both literal and figurative depravation, filth, uncertainty and fear; this is a very uncomfortable movie, but the reward is a unique story and a very well made motion picture that cautions audiences and reinforces the need to maintain order even in the darkest of times.

Blindness benefits from an excellent cast that goes all-in to carry the film, that traverses the physical muck and dives headfirst into the emotional chaos that defines the movie. Julianne Moore delivers a good performance as the only person left who can see. While the movie doesn't engage in a whole lot of obvious metaphorical overtones with the character, Moore delivers a balanced and deep performance as she walks the line between honesty and deception for the greater good, as she resists the onslaught of despair and depravity but finds she must engage in it to save herself and those people for whom she cares, the people who are struggling to maintain a semblance of humanity when far more than their sight has been forcibly stripped from them. Mark Ruffalo plays one of those men attempting to save himself, to retain his essence even in the midst of a terribly hellish environment. The entire cast effortlessly falls into character, not only looking worn down but acting it, too; Blindness oozes awfulness, but in this case that's a good thing. Director Fernando Meirelles (City of God) directs with the goal of disorienting the audience, of conveying the absence of sight as well as can be expected in a medium built on the sense of sight. He uses cockeyed perspectives, sometimes mis-frames characters, and often washes out the scene with overpowering whites. The direction is an asset, effective in both telling the story and making the audience feel what's happening rather than asking them to just watch what happens, critical in conveying a story of this sort with as much cinematic efficiency as possible.

Blindness Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Viewers will see Echo Bridge in a whole different light with Blindness, perhaps the studio's finest Blu-ray transfer to date. The film offers all sorts of different looks, all of them well-resolved on Blu-ray. This is a very crisp, organic, film-like presentation. It's sharp, very nicely detailed, and features a grain overlay that really solidifies the appearance. Fine details are wonderful; facial lines and skin imperfections, structural textures, clothing lines, and all of the grime and wear-and-tear around the facility and outside in the city look marvelous. The entire image enjoys superior definition and first-rate clarity, whether in those scenes with blindingly bright white backgrounds, pale gray overlays, shadowy corners, or more balanced scenes. Likewise, colors vary greatly depending on the scene, location, and intended style, but they always look true to the specifics of the scene and accurate under whatever lighting conditions there may be. Black levels are well-balanced, and flesh tones range from ghastly pale to true-to-life. There's very light background banding in a few spots, but not enough to warrant much concern. Overall, this is a very strong transfer from Echo Bridge.

Blindness Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blindness debuts on Blu-ray with a very high quality DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. From the opening moments, listeners will hear a very active and energetic but balanced and natural audio presentation. Echo Bridge's track makes use of a wide, natural, immersive soundstage. Cars zip around the stage from the early moments with a startlingly realistic sensation of space, weight, and balance. The background din of the city completes the sensation. Such natural and enveloping surround usage carries over to other parts of the film as well, particularly the desperate cries and haunting elements that spread through the de facto prison for the blind. There's a very good drenching rain later in the film that figuratively soaks the soundstage; water pours through each speaker with startling natural accuracy. Music is smooth and is delivered with precision through the entire range. Dialogue is firm and balanced, playing constantly from the front-center area of the stage. Blindness' lossless track does everything right. This is a wide-open track that brings every element -- large and small - to effortless sonic life.

Blindness Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Blindness contains three bonus features.

• A Vision of Blindness (1080p, 55:32): This extended feature opens with cast and crew discussing the plot and themes. The piece moves on to examine the process of training the performers to act as if they truly were blind, the challenges inherent to the parts, constructing and detailing the primary set, the original source novel and the process of bringing it to the screen, the shooting process and filmmaking techniques, filming the exteriors, crafting visual effects, creating music and sound effects, and more.
• The Seeing Eye (1080p, 36:07): An additional feature examining the difficult process of shooting the final pieces of the film, shooting at Director Fernando Meirelles' home, creating an authentic eye exam sequence, filming additional scenes, making some of the more challenging moments, character details, detailing the sets, wrapping the shoot, and more.
• Extra Scenes (480p, 6:24): A collection of deleted scenes.

Blindness Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blindness is a challenging picture. It's difficult to absorb, hard to watch, but very well crafted. It manages to depict a world gone to hell when only one of many things that define a man is taken away. It's not so much about the absence of sight as it is the shortsightedness of man in crisis situations and his failure to adapt when things go awry. It's a chilling vision of a possible world, better understood when taken in through the figurative rather than the literal lens of cinema and storytelling. Strong direction, good acting, a quality story, and high production values make Blindness a must-see. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of Blindness features tip-top video and audio to go along with a few extras. Recommended.