BLINDNESS (2008)

[indianasmith]

I watched this one last night and found myself completely caught up in it.  The premise is a fairly simple one - what if the human population was suddenly, inexplicably infected with a highly contagious disease that caused instant blindness?
   Julianne Moore plays the wife of an opthalmologist.  He is one of the first victims of the disease, and she lies and says she is infected too so that she can go with him into quarantine.  The victims are all placed within an old hospital and cordoned off in an attempt to contain the illness.  The place quickly becomes overcrowded, and the worst side of humanity emerges.  One ward begins hogging the food and demanding payment from the other two - first in money and jewelry, then in women.  Most of the movie takes place inside this hospital, and it is a bleak and depressing look at the dark side of the human soul.
   Eventually, the inmates discover the guards are gone and wander out into a world that is completely transformed by the effects of the illness . . . .

  Don't look for a standard horror movie here, or for a cheerful picture of humanity.  But what the screenwriter has done is give you a depressingly realistic view of just how thin our veneer of civilization is.  This is an outstandingly done and very believable film.  You really ought to check it out.

[Rev. Powell]

I read a plot summary of this and thought it sounded worthwhile. Glad to see someone's recommended it.  I may have to move it into my Netflix queue.

[brenda]

i haven't seen the movie but i would like to say that it is based off of one of my favorite books by jose saramago. maybe someday i'll add it to my netflix.