The City of the Blind (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The city of the blind |
| Original title | Blindness |
| Country of production | Brazil , Canada , Japan |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 121 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK from 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Fernando Meirelles |
| script | Don McKellar |
| production |
Andrea Barata Ribeiro , Niv Fichman , Sonoko Sakai |
| music | Marco Antônio Guimarães |
| camera | César Charlone |
| cut | Daniel Rezende |
| occupation | |
| |
The City of the Blind (original title: Blindness ) is a Brazilian - Canadian - Japanese end-time drama from 2008 . Directed by Fernando Meirelles , the screenplay was written by Don McKellar , based on the 1995 novel of the same name by José Saramago .
action
In an unnamed city , people suddenly go blind without any external signs of illness. For fear of an epidemic, the government has the infected people housed in an empty psychiatric institution and guarded under the strictest security precautions. Anyone who tries to escape will be shot. Those affected include an ophthalmologist and his wife, who inexplicably appears to be immune to the disease and is the only one who can keep her eyesight . In order to be able to stay with her husband, she pretends that she is blind and is admitted with him. The number of internees quickly increases to threatening proportions, the supply situation becomes critical and the hygienic conditions deteriorate in a catastrophic manner. Soon the first deaths are to be lamented, hunger and disease spread.
When a single group seizes the allotted food rations and thus seizes power over the institution, the last bastions of civilization collapse. The women have to prostitute themselves to the new rulers so that the inmates don't starve to death. When the doctor's wife kills the leader of the oppressors, war breaks out between the groups. A woman sets a fire in the room where the rapists burn. The institution catches fire and burns down completely. When escaping into the inner courtyard, it becomes apparent that there are no security guards for a long time, and the blind make their way into the city.
Led by the only sighted person, they roam a place of misery. Obviously all people are blind and the city is barbaric. When the doctor's wife finds groceries hidden in the basement of a supermarket, she is almost the victim of an attack by half-starved blind people. The remaining group under their leadership makes their way to the doctor's house to start a new life there. At the end of the film, the index patient ( patient Zero ), i.e. the first blind person, recovers: he can suddenly see again, which gives rise to hope that the others will be able to see again in the next few days and weeks.
Differences to the novel
In the commentary on the DVD, director Meirelles asserts that he created The City of the Blind with José Saramago as the audience; so he kept close to the original book. Nevertheless, some deviations can be made out (especially from the moment the internees escape from the mental hospital).
In the book, but not in the film
- Not only blind people are quarantined, but also sighted people who have been in contact with them. They gradually become blind too.
- Some events (more than in the film) are portrayed from the perspective of the army and the government.
- The woman who set the fire in the mental hospital burns there too.
- After their escape from quarantine, the group around the doctor and his wife met another group with whom they had a long conversation.
- Before they move into the doctor's house together, they spend some time in the house of the woman with the sunglasses.
- In order not to lose her group in the city, the doctor's wife ties the members together with a rope.
- The book makes it clear that the animals can all still see; In the film this remains open - it seems as if the dog that has walked up is also blind because it knocks over objects in the house.
- The doctor's wife goes on other expeditions from her house; one leads to the house of the first blind man, where they meet a writer who wrote down everything that happened to him, another to her husband's doctor's office, among other things.
In the film, but not in the novel
- The ophthalmologist's office hours also play a bigger role.
- When the doctor's wife goes looking for food in town, her husband accompanies her. She finds what she is looking for in the hidden pantry of a supermarket (also in the book), but is then attacked by the starving people around her. Only her husband can save her from their grip.
- Every now and then the voice of the old man with the eye patch speaks from the off. In the book the narrator is always authorial .
- The wife of the first blind man loses herself in depression and casts off her husband; only later does she find her way back to her happiness.
- The rain lures people outside in droves, where they take a provisional shower. At this point in time, only three of the women in the novel (the doctor's wife, the woman with the dark glasses and the wife of the first blind man) come up with the idea of using the rain for personal hygiene.
- In the film, only the first blind person regains his sight; In the book we also learn that the girl with the sunglasses and the doctor are suddenly healed, so that the healing of all people is shown more clearly.
Reviews
On October 23, 2008, Frank Dietschreit wrote in the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung that the film “ goes to the limit of what can be said and presented, but luckily not beyond that” . In the end, too, “a little hope grows . Maybe we will survive our own downfall. "
Justin Chang wrote in Variety magazine on May 15, 2008 that the portrayal of Julianne Moore is strong, but the film does not achieve the power, the "tragic reach" and the human impact of the novel. The over-equipped, but under- motivated ( "both overdressed and undermotivated" ) film proves that the novelist was "sadly" right with his reservations about the film adaptation .
Verena Lueken wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on May 14, 2008 that the director had not dared to “go to the edge of what can be shown” , “to which he should have gone if he had really followed Saramago” . While the novel conveys a “horror vision” , the film “only” makes a “lesson” out of it. However, there is “a certain charm ” to opening a film festival “with a film about being blind and learning to see again” .
Susan Vahabzadeh wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on May 14, 2008 that the director had chosen a pace of the plot that “squandered a lot” , which was a “disappointing start” . As a result, "the film itself shows the callousness" that it scourges itself. For example, the music used in a rape scene is unsuitable. The film begins “with howls of triumph” and later “quietly goes under” - the audience's reaction to the world premiere was “restrained” . However, she was enthusiastic about the leading actress: "Julianne Moore plays it great, as if it fell to her, perhaps because softness and hardness come together in her face from the start."
The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.
backgrounds
Saramago rejected the filming of his novel for a long time. The US self-help organizations for the blind, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) , called for protests at the start of the film in the USA, because they believe that the filming spreads stereotypes about blind people and thus the stigmatization of them Strengthen group of people.
The film was shot in Toronto in Guelph ( Ontario ), in Montevideo and Sao Paulo rotated. Its production amounted to an estimated 25 million US dollars .
The world premiere on May 14, 2008 opened the Cannes International Film Festival 2008. Participation in the competition for the Palme d'Or was unsuccessful. On September 6, 2008, the film was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival . The release in the USA was on October 3, 2008, the German theatrical release on October 23, 2008.
Web links
- Blindness in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Blindness at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Justin Chang: Review: 'Blindness'. ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Variety . May 14, 2008, accessed April 17, 2016.
- ^ At the start of Cannes. The Farseer. FAZ.net . May 14, 2008, accessed April 16, 2016.
- ^ Susan Vahabzadeh: 61st Cannes Film Festival. King in the madhouse. Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 11, 2010, accessed April 17, 2016.
- ^ National Federation of the Blind. Condemns and Deplores the Movie Blindness. nfb.org. ( Memento from February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The City of the Blind. Filming locations. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ↑ Box office / The city of the blind. Business. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ↑ The City of the Blind. Release dates. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
