So there's this thing that I often do whenever I have spare time and am conveniently in the downtown area. It might sound a little bit geeky and not very fun, but I don't know what it is but I enjoy it. I like to roam bookstores, but especially Chapters. I actually have no intention of buying anything or looking for anything, but it is actually something that I plan of doing in advance when I know I'm going to be nearby it...and alone, most importantly. I just like the feel of new books, hardcover and paperback. I like flipping through the soft pages with the so beautifully printed words on them, with the occasional face shot of the author on the back cover that makes me chuckle and wonder why they chose this awful picture. I wander around, on all of the floors just to stare and touch the numerous books. So the other day, I had the chance to do this weird routine of mine at Chapters and I've stumble upon the wall of Awards-winning novels. There is this one called Blindness by Portuguese author José Saramago, which won a Nobel Prize for Literature. I picked it up and read the back of it, which tells the story of a world that has been plagued by the "white disease" which is essentially a contagious pandemic causing humans to lose their eyesight. Flipping through the very thick novel, I rapidly put it back on its original shelve thinking that I would never be able to read and comprehend such a high-acclaimed and complex piece of literature work. I mean, it must be some ground-breaking story-telling to be awarded a world-renowned Prize like the Nobel one.
So story short, I did not read the book. I, however, discovered that they made a movie out of it to which I was completely unaware of. It surprisingly stars some very talented actors that I like watching on screen, namely Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia Bernal. I caught it on PaperView at home, but wasn't able to finish it in its entirety, but the 30 minutes or so of the scenes that I saw really intrigued me. So at my friend's house not long after, I was able to watch it from begining to end because she happened to have had rent it at the video store the night before. This movie honestly moved me. I can't say whether it is better or worse than the original novel (although my friend who read the book tells me the book is far more superior) since I have not read the book, but as an average movie goer, the movie really spoke to me on so many levels. It gave me chills and really got me into thinking as the end credit rolls. The content kind of scared me despite not having any purpose of scaring anyone.
Blindness focuses on the story of a disease that spread throughout the United States (and we assume the world as well) which caused everyone to lose their eyesight, and go blind. Their blindness however is not like the usual kind where the disabled one "sees" only darkness, an obscur black like the lights have been turned off. Instead, their darkness has become a vision of whiteness. The disease is contagious and as soon as it became a situation of panik, the governmental authorities have deployed soldiers to catch the infected ones and send them to a prison-like ward for "quarantine" purposes. But as the captives will soon realize, they have been sent as prisoners shielded from the outside world. The main characters involve an eye doctor who lost his sight after being in contact with a patient that came to see him because of his eyesight lost, his wife who is immune to the disease but pretends to be blind so to take care of her husband, a few infected victims and a deranged "ward leader" that will impose his dictating ways onto everybody by distributing boxes of food in exchange for precious things the blinds own and sexual favors. The story revolves around so many human nature issues. Themes like desperation, social gangs, ethics, and most importantly, in my opinion, hope, all come into play and all tie in together to make the audience feel so compelled and involved. The content was, for me, so provocative but captivated all of my attention. Some might find it boring, but for those who are not suffering from an attention deficit disorder, it is a very exciting movie experience.
The movie really makes me want to visit Chapters again and get the courage to actually pick up the book and purchase it. I strongly recommend either watching the movie or reading the book, because it's a remarkable and at the same time, sad tale about human behavior during an apocalyptic world. We are no more different than animals.
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