Blindness ( 2008 )

Blindness is a film based on Jose Saramago's award winning novel of the same name.

It is a parable of sorts dealing with both society and its inevitable breakdown, in the wake of a never explained outbreak of a disease of sorts, that leaves anyone infected, blind... as well my inability to really understand what parables are supposed to be. The afflicted are rounded up and imprisoned, left, for all intents and purposes to fend for themselves... and much like Australian politics if the media or the public was removed, chaos soon reigns.

Visually amazing, at times harrowing and beautiful, the film tracks human nature ( not the band ) once all the confines of "society" are removed. Many films have tried similar things in the past, but very few have done it in such a memorable, unique, and eerily beautiful way.

Julianne Moore and the cinematography both shine, sometimes quite literally under the bright white lights to bely the diminishing sight of the characters clouded with this sudden affliction; an expanse of dazzling white, described as though they are "swimming in milk".

Blindness may not always be easy going, and may not give a good view of human nature... but your eyesight could be put to worse uses than checking out this bleak gem.