The 2009 movie was based on the book, the blind side. Based on the novel by nobel prizewinning novelist jose saramago, blindness takes place in an unspecified modern city, where a small group of people are afflicted with a disease that takes away their vision and fills their eyes with nothing but a vast, featureless whiteness like im swimming in milk, as one character puts it. In other words, the soul and insight of the book are lost in translation. This famous book begins with a pandemic of blindness somewhereanywhere, which is unexplained and extremely unprecedented, rather transmitted, so that in a few days the society of suddenly and abruptly blind and helpless people is created. I didnt find it too complicated, the main character is really likable, and the opening scene the election workers waiting for. I learn he long resisted offers to make his book into a movie.
The event that, in the movie, caused a hole to be torn in the sky signifies an act of nature that could destroy the ozone layer exposing the earths surface to uvb and other radiation, an extinction level event. This book explains how the eye works, some of the causes of blindness, and how the world looks to those with various types of visual impairment. Then i recorded myself telling you what i thought about it in hopes that youll go out and read it too. Thus, providing the root of sin and degration of lives, as relating to the treatment of people in the short story somni in the novel cloud atlas. Apr 14, 2006 seeing by jose saramago, translated by margaret jull costa 352pp, harvill secker. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal. This years canne festival opened with the widely praised movie blindness, a film based on nobel prizewinner jose saramagos 1995 novel. Saramago was awarded the nobel prize for literature one year later, in 1998, in no. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hoarding the meager food rations and committing horrific acts.
A city is hit by a sudden and strange epidemic of white blindness, which spares no one. He, along with other victims, is sent to a government detention center so that they can be quarantined. One by one, each person he encounters suffers the same unsettling fate. Blindness caused by infectious diseases, such as trachoma, and by dietary deficiencies is common in underdeveloped. Blindness did the doctors wife actually go blind at the. The book was not available on audible yet, so i went to the book store and purchased the text version. Blindness the moviebunch of blind people will watch. Childrens books teaching students with visual impairments.
The text briefly introduces braille, assistive technology, and mobility aids used by people who are blind. The novel blindness, by jose saramago, was published in portuguese in 1995 and translated into english in 1997. The movie, blindness opened at the atlantic film festival last week. This book is being made into a movie and the trailer intrigued me. Those who experience the blindness see only a white glare, so the blindness is sometimes called the white sickness. Blindness unabridged blindness unabridged audiobook, by jose saramago. Blindness is a fantastic book, the best i have read in a long time. The premise of the movie is that unnamed residents of an unnamed city in an unnamed country suddenly and mysteriously become blind. It was the first time the recording had been played for almost 25 years. Saramago was awarded the nobel prize for literature one year later, in. Blindness story, blindness hollywood movie story, plot. The embattled relationships among the people of a city mysteriously struck by an epidemic of blindness form the core of this superb novel by the internationally acclaimed saramago, the portugese author of, most recently, the history of the siege of lisbon 1997.
In a banquet address and press release in september 2008, marc maurer, president of the national federation of the blind, said the organization condemns and deplores the movie, and the novel, upon which it is based. Saramago quickly introduces the malady, recounting the first infection within the first few pages of the novel. I didnt find it too complicated, the main character is really likable, and the opening scene the election workers waiting for voters to arrive is my favorite part of either book. Poet john milton, who went blind in midlife, composed on his blindness, a sonnet about coping with blindness. It is my good fortune to be attending a screening tonight of the newly restored print of the godfather. Blindness, a 2008 film adaptation of the 1995 novel. The book is confronting, shocking and much harder and darker than the movie. A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant white blindness. Blindness, a 2016 polish film blindness, a song by metric from the 2009 album fantasies. Blindness, a 1995 novel by portuguese author jose saramago.
I read blindness written by jose saramago and translated by giovanni pontiero. The film was also inspired by the life of shirl jennings, one of the few people in the world to regain sight after a lifetime of blindness. The blindness in the platonic allegory serves as a barrier to understanding just as the blindness in the novel is itself something incomprehensible the doctors are baffled as to its cause, how it spreads and what can stop it. Analysis of blindness by jose saramago english literature. All that remains to distinguish one person from another is ones voice, and the kind of person one is. The text briefly introduces braille, assistive technology, and mobility aids used by. With julianne moore, mark ruffalo, gael garcia bernal, yusuke iseya. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating in systemic disorders e. The film at first sight was based on the essay to see and not see from sacks book an anthropologist on mars. The film was written by don mckellar and directed by fernando meirelles, with julianne moore and mark ruffalo as the main characters. A driver stalled at a busy intersection suddenly suffers an attack of white blindness no other color, or any shape, is.
The movie blindness is based on a book by the same name, written by jose saramago. One of john hulls original tape recorders, in a still from the film. One of the most enjoyable features of blindness is the writing style, which is at one both personal and almost documentary. In the book, the characters have no names, only he, she, we, they, etc. A stunningly powerful novel of humanitys will to survive against all odds during an epidemic by a winner of the nobel prize for literature. Notes on blindness, a documentary based on the theologian john m. Blindness did the doctors wife actually go blind at the end. A in a nutshell, the movie follows a group of folks who fall victim to a blindness epidemic and get thrown into an abandoned facility by the military to be quarantined. Mark ruffalo stars as an eye doctor who awakens one morning to find that he suffers from the unexplained disorder.
Based on the 1995 novel by portugals jose saramago, winner of the 1998 nobel prize for literature. Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment or vision loss, is a decreased ability to see to a degree that causes problems not fixable by usual means, such as glasses. In the book, theres also no explanation as to how everyone became blind or why the woman was the only one who could see. Jose saramago tells the grim tale of a city devastated by an epidemic of blindness. Visual impairment is often defined as a best corrected visual acuity of worse than either 2040 or. Oct 03, 2008 blindness is based on a novel by the nobel prizewinning portuguese author jose saramago, a dystopian allegory about the human condition, mass behavior in times of heightened fear and our. The real story behind the blind side eternallifestyle. Dec 14, 2009 the novel blindness, by jose saramago, was published in portuguese in 1995 and translated into english in 1997. The novel is hugely rewarding and saramago tells us much about the dangers we face today and the facile political assumptions, such as democracy and law and order, that so many of us take for granted. Sep 17, 2008 the movie, blindness opened at the atlantic film festival last week. As a doctor tries to assign an etiology, the condition begins to.
In fact, the original title of the book is essay on blindness, and it is part of a series of philosophicalliterary essays on different themes related to humanity, social and political structures. Oct 01, 2008 blindness, starring academy awardnominee julianne moore, gael garcia bernal, mark ruffalo, sandra oh and danny glover, is a psychological thriller about the fragility of mankind. The novel blindness the sinners dealt with in our past novels and the present novel blindness empathetically been assigned the trait of ignorance. The author is known for his long sentences and paragraphs. Ya gotta know that a bunch o blind folk are going to have something to say about it. It is one of his most famous novels, along with the gospel according to jesus christ and baltasar and blimunda. The film was written by don mckellar and directed by fernando meirelles with julianne moore and mark ruffalo as the main characters.
Blindness is a 2008 englishlanguage thriller film and an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by portuguese author jose saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. Another thing, if you take the book as a parable, which given the fact that the author was a life long communist seems reasonable, then the blindness could be a result of cultural brainwashing, i. Boston globe a city is hit by an epidemic of white blindness which spares no one. Ensaio sobre a cegueira, meaning essay on blindness is a novel by portuguese author jose saramago. So, another month and another dystopian cultural drama hits the screens it seems someone is trying to tell us something. Blindness is a visual condition blindness may also refer to. Dec 28, 2010 in saramagos blindness, a vision of human nature jose saramago tells the grim tale of a city devastated by an epidemic of blindness. S ince its premiere at cannes this year, fernando meirelless film has been coldly received by many critics, on the grounds that it softpedals. Those first afflicted are quarantined by the authorities in an abandoned mental hospital where the newly created society of the blind quickly breaks down. The blindness of the novel operates in this same allegorical vein, using blindness as a metaphor for ignorance. Seeing is a lot more complicated and less entertaining than blindness. This study guide consists of approximately 65 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of blindness.
He states that the book uses blindness as a metaphor for all that is bad in human thought and action, while the characters. Some years ago a reliable friend told me i should read jose saramagos blindness. This book has been saramagos most widely read book, partly because of the 2008 release of the movie, directed by brazilian director fernando meirelles, based on novel. Blindness, a book about the consequences of a whole population suddenly losing its sight, is harrowing, but only too easy to believe. The work posits that those who best bear gods mild yoke, they serve him best. Blindness is a novel by portuguese author jose saramago. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there social conventions quickly crumble and the struggle for survival brings out the worst in people. Blindness comprises the first half of a two part series of essays the original portuguese title translates as essay on blindness. The dutch painter and engraver rembrandt often depicted scenes from the apocryphal book of tobit, which tells the story of a blind patriarch who is.
It is an allegory about a group of people who survive under great stress, but frankly i would rather have seen them perish than sit through the final threequarters of the film. When one man is struck blind while driving home from work, his whole world is turned to an eerie, milky haze. List of books and articles about blindness online research. And i have to say the movie is just as mysterious as the book. An international bestseller this is a shattering work by a literary master. Some also include those who have a decreased ability to see because they do not have access to glasses or contact lenses. Hulls memoir, subtly evokes sightlessness with figures in silhouette. Wikipedia warned me that the author does not give any of the characters names. James fetter is a graduate student at notre dame university. Its difficult to explain without giving too much of the plot away, so ill stick to generalisations.
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