IFFK 2008 Day 5

I managed to see the movie Blindness. There was frantic rush for this movie despite today’s being its second screening. The queues (there were two queues for some reason) extended to the narrow roads outside Ramya-Dhanya theatre complex. The movie was worth standing even a lengthier queue, if that can be a yardstick. I have a feeling that it is likely to be the film that we are going to mention about this festival in future.

Blindness, based on a novel with the same name by Nobel Prize winning writer Jose Saramago, is directed by Fernando Meirelles. The film is a mix of fantasy and allegory topped with merciless satire of the human nature. Its story goes like this. People in a city suddenly start losing their eyesight one by one. It is not the conventional type of blindness. But what people “see” is whiteness around, not darkness. Soon the early birds were confined to a specially created sanatorium, because of the infectious nature of the disease. A doctor is also affected by the disease. His wife is the only person who can see. But she also pretends as blind. Food will be provided from outside. The film narrates how people react to this situation. Soon a group of inmates take control of the sanatorium, very much like an armed coup. They began to enjoy the privileges like better food, woman, etc. But the inmates manage to escape from the sanatorium. What they see outside is a city devastated by the outbreak of blindness.

The film has been shot with great imagination. The first scene itself, in which a man driving a car suddenly losing his eye sight at a traffic signal, is an example. This film is a treat for those who love cinematic metaphors and symbolic narration. At certain points, the film brings to mind the novels such as Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies.

But that was all for today. I came back to the office in the afternoon.

There has been decent mainstream media coverage of IFFK 2008. Kerala Kaumudi reporters are generally disappointed with the quality of the films of this festival. A report on The Hindu focuses more on the problems and budget of organizing the festival. If you want to read decent write-ups about the films in the competition section, check out for articles in dearcinema.com and manoramaonline.