Fernando Meirelles: “Blindness”

4 Nov 2008 Category: Film / Animation, Worldwide

Fernando Meirelles: “Blindness”

A still from "Blindness" by Fernando Meirelles: One man (Yusuke Iseya) turns mysteriously blind, and the epidemic spreads around. There is only only woman (Julianne Moore) left who hasn't lost her eye sight. Now she sees a reality she didn't quite expect... © 2008 Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures

Imagine one day you find everyone around you suddenly going blind. One by one, the epidemic causes its victims to see only white darkness. And this is precisely what you‘ll get to see in Blindness by Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles. In 2002, he brought a cinematic close up to Rio de Janeiro’s street kids with City of God. Now, he adapted this new apocalyptic drama from José Saramago’s novel of the same name. When Fernando Meirelles visited Tokyo a couple of weeks ago, PingMag grabbed him for a talk.

Written by Chiemi

What was your first impression of “Blindness,” the novel by Nobel Prize in Literature winner José Saramago?


The cover of José Saramago’s “Blindness,” Japanese edition by Japan Broadcasting Publishing Co., Ltd.

My first impression about the story was very strong. It was the kind of book that you read and don’t want it to finish because the experience is so powerful. I liked its idea of how fragile civilisation is. You really think it is very organised, but everything can crack easily in a second.

Mr. Saramago resisted to give the film rights to anyone for many years, but eventually he gave it to you. Why did he change his mind?

Actually he didn’t know that I was going to direct the movie. The rights were bought by a Canadian producer called Niv Fichman. He developed the script and then invited me. I think what convinced Saramago was that he wanted the film to be in English because more people can watch — but he didn’t want it to be an American movie. So, the Canadian producer was the perfect choice for him and when he found out that I was going to direct it, he was happy.

The first man to go blind (Yusuke Iseya). © 2008 Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures

The doctor (Mark Ruffalo) who treated him. Everyone around caught the epidemic, except for the doctor’s wife (Julianne Moore). © 2008 Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures

Did José Saramago give you any kind of restrictions before shooting?


Director, Fernando Meirelles, a really friendly guy!

I actually wanted him to participate more in the process, but he replied “I wrote the book, but this is your interpretation, so do it in your own way.” There were only three things he asked us: First, the film has to be in English. Second, the film has to be shot in a location that wouldn’t be recognised to make the story universal. Third, about the dog. He said we have to cast a big dog in the film. (Laughs)

Since this film is about the blind, in order to understand what people go through, did you experiment by yourself?

Yes, we created some workshops for extras. We blindfolded them for four or five hours doing different exercises, such as walking in a city, trying to chase each other and following sounds… We did this workshop three or four times every week to prepare for the amount of extras we needed. And actually I joined them three times too, to see how it’s like. The exercise was very interesting, especially regarding sounds.

At the “Blind” workshop, Fernando noticed people held hands hands instinctively to function together, as soon as they were released into the open streets while blindfolded. © 2008 Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures

What about the technical side: How did you visually show the frightening experience of going blind for the audience to understand?

What we tried was to de-construct the film and hide some of the images to give a feeling of blindness. I mean, taking the importance out of the images. So besides using very bright colours, sometimes we used very white and washed images you wouldn’t recognise. We also used the images that were out of focus, and I always had a piece of glass to create flashes and reflection. Sometimes we just shot without looking through the eye piece and got a very weird and wrong flaming which we used for some of the movie too.

The director, Fernando Meirelles (left) with Julianne Moore (right.) © 2008 Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures

I saw the clip of Mr. Saramago on YouTube that shows his reaction after watching your movie for the first time at Cannes Film Festival. He was in tears… How did you feel?

Oh, it was the biggest relief in my life because I was so anxious. After the movie finished he didn’t say anything during the credits. So I thought he didn’t like it. Before, we had had very hard reviews, so at that point I was thinking maybe the movie wasn’t what I thought. But when the light switched on, he was very happy. I was so relieved and I even kissed him! I don’t usually kiss people like that but I was so pleased! (Laughs)

I nearly cried when I was watching the movie too. Finally, what would be your message to the audience?

It’s hard to explain and I want the audience to find out the message by themselves. But I think the clue is that this is about human nature. It’s about how we can learn from suffering and crisis, and in the end we actually will be able to see much more than we used to.

Because of an epidemic, public order turns into chaos. Nobody knows what will happen next… © 2008 Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures

The director, Fernando Meirelles with a view of Tokyo.

Thank you very much for giving us your time, Fernando! In Japan, Blindness will be shown at Marunouchi Plazeru and other cinemas from November 22nd, 2008!

73 Comments

  1. what a scary situation.
    this movie goes on my must see list.

    Posted by: roku on November 4th, 2008 at 7:46 pm

  2. wow. powerful I really want to read the book now i must say. what a unique idea. x

    Posted by: spira on November 4th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

  3. Spira, I wouldn’t do that. José Saramago is one of the worst writers I’ve seen. I mean, the guy can be so boring you may want to kill yourself. No joke!!!

    Posted by: Zender on November 4th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

  4. Actually, the book is beautifully written, and a great read. And Saramago more than deserved winning the Nobel Prize for literature back in 1998.

    Posted by: Ryan on November 5th, 2008 at 1:08 am

  5. must not see
    boring want my money back

    Posted by: Anonymous on November 5th, 2008 at 1:22 am

  6. This is really a “love or hate” kind of film. Makes you feel quite uncomfortable with the situation…

    Posted by: Flavio on November 5th, 2008 at 2:01 am

  7. [...] Fernando Meirelles on “Blindness” [...]

    Posted by: Superposition Kitty » Fernando Meirelles: “Blindness” on November 5th, 2008 at 2:55 am

  8. I didn’t think the book was boring. The best works make you feel uncomfortable.

    Posted by: Jane on November 5th, 2008 at 4:30 am

  9. I loved the book and was very reluctant about the film - how could you possibly turn this into a film? making the invisible visible…?
    now reading your interview, maybe I might go and see it
    cheers!

    Posted by: sarah on November 5th, 2008 at 6:24 am

  10. I thoroughly enjoyed City of God and The Constant Gardener, so this is a must watch for me I guess. :]

    Posted by: blauereiter on November 5th, 2008 at 9:42 pm

  11. This is a great movie!
    Best of 2008!

    Posted by: Chris on November 6th, 2008 at 12:02 am

  12. I read the book and saw the movie right after, and still loved it. I strongly recommend BOTH.

    Posted by: Rita on November 6th, 2008 at 1:49 am

  13. i find saramago’s work boring, but i think it’s worth the try, you can’t rely on somebody else’s opinion to make a judgement about his works, i haven’t seen the movie yet but i guess i will soon… i’m keeping my hope’s up, specially cause saramago is not involved with the making of the film and i’m a bit curious about how it was done.

    Posted by: mostro on November 6th, 2008 at 2:24 am

  14. This reminds me a short story by Boris Vian (”L’amour est aveugle”) where a strange fog falls down on a city during a night and no one can see anymore in the morning.
    The narrator decides to get naked and go shopping. Eventually he finds out that everyone has had the same idea. Social relationships are tremendously changed.
    One day the fog disappears and everyone decide to blind himself.

    Posted by: Spiridion on November 6th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

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  16. I like Julianne Moore!

    Posted by: Igre on October 1st, 2010 at 11:59 pm

  17. Yea, she is great acress!

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  19. A still from “Blindness” by Fernando Meirelles: One man (Yusuke Iseya) turns mysteriously blind, and the epidemic spreads around.

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  21. I like Julianne Moore!

    Posted by: RAN on April 25th, 2011 at 6:18 pm

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