Blindness - When Things Go All White

I'm finally back with something new to review; my procrastination never seems to wane. Everybody loves a good "what if" film and Blindness goes to a new level previously untouched. What would happen if everyone in the world were to go blind in a sea of white? This is exactly what happens as Julianne Moore stars in this film about the world coping with a blindness epidemic.

The origin, explanation and cause of the widespread blindness is never explained because the film deals more with the sociological impacts of blindness. As more and more people are afflicted with being blind, they are slowly moved to a concentrated area in hopes of isolating the problem. This is all a waste of time as the entire world is affected with the only known person who can still see, Julianne Moore's character as the Doctor's Wife, inside the concentration camp. As more people are placed into the camp, we learn how civility ceases to exist and mob rule takes over.

The split between differing mentalities forms between the civil and those that are willing to exploit what they can. The exploiters are partially headed by a man born with blindness who seems to do just fine in the circumstances. When the uncivil decide to seize the food that comes into the camp, they make their demands, first valuable possessions, then the lust for women. This is probably the most disturbing part of the film as we see just how unforgiving some can be despite their disabilities.

Blindness is effective in showing how much we take for granted, especially for those of us who have vision. Compassion is absent in those who have lived without vision and we see just how far some are willing to go to take advantage. I recommend watching Blindness as an eye-opening experience but its probably not worth watching more than one time.