Jamie passion and passionfruit!

The movie of the Saramago novel which opened Cannes last year.  Savaged by critics and I have to say not an altogether successful work.  As an allegorical work on society’s own blindness to each other, it does remind one of many of these ‘survivor’ style dramas and has its strong moments but also a lot of artifice and fallacy too.  I found the first half somewhat unattractive and while the latter part in the hospital gets more interesting it also gets more sordid too with rapes and the like.  Julianne Moore as the only sighted person holds it all together but even at the end as they get to freedom, the rather naff scenes of enjoying the rain smack too much of clichés.  Consequently, there are poignant moments and a lot of work and thought have gone into the movie but it just doesn’t come together.  The ‘blinding’ lighting of the film irritates, the script is flat and the best we can appreciate is the acting of Moore, Ruffalo and others.  A bit of a Europudding that sabotages the possibility of something really great.

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