BLINDNESS

Year: 2008
USA: Miramax Films
UK: Pathe Distribution
Cast: Julianne Moore, Don McKellar, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya, Yoshino Kimura, Don McKellar, Jason Bermingham, Maury Chaykin, Mitchell Nye, Eduardo Semerjian, Joe Pingue, Susan Coyne, Fabiana Gugli, AntOnio Fragoso, Lilian Blanc, Douglas Silva, Joe Cobden, Daniel Zettel, Mpho Koaho, Tom Melissis, Tracy Wright, Amanda Hiebert, Jorge Molina, Patrick Garrow, Gerry Mendicino, Matt Gordon, Sandra Oh
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Countries: Canada / Brazil / Japan
USA: 120 mins
UK: 121 mins
USA Rated: R for violence including sexual assaults, language and sexuality/nudity
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong violence, some sexual
USA Release Date: 3 October 2008
UK Release Date: 21 November 2008 (Limited Release)

Synopsis

Adapted from Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago's masterwork, BLINDNESS is a harrowing tale about the fragility of mankind. Evocative of the recent SARS epidemic, or occurrences in the New Orleans Super Dome during Hurricane Katrina, BLINDNESS takes place in a city which is ravaged by an epidemic of instant "white blindness". Those first afflicted are quarantined by the authorities in an abandoned mental hospital where the newly created "society of the blind" quickly breaks down. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hording the meagre food rations and committing horrific acts.

There is however one eyewitness to the nightmare. A woman whose sight is unaffected by the plague follows her afflicted husband to quarantine. There, keeping her sight a secret, she guides seven strangers who have become, in essence, a family. She leads them out of quarantine and onto the ravaged streets of the city, which has seen all vestiges of civilization crumble. Their voyage is fraught with danger, yet their survival and ultimate redemption reflect the tenacity and depth of the human spirit.