Notes on Blindness (2016)

I usually don't go in to a film totally blind (no pun intended), so I knew it was about a theologian who slowly goes blind and decides to keep recordings of his blindness. Interesting enough. Somehow I delayed watching it until now. I am here to tell you it is a truly rewarding experience. Don't let the title put you off. Slowly and surely you'll be immersed in John Hull's baritone voice with his succinct observations on life. And you will applaud his caring family who are always by his side. Rain drops have taken on a whole new meaning for me now.

(Flash Review)Imagine going blind just before the birth of your first child!? That's a bit of a Debbie Downer. That is what happened to writer and theologian John Hull in 1983. His story is told very uniquely through his diary of tape recordings as he documented his traumatic experience while actors lip synced to the recordings. That creative approach was nicely complimented with cinematography that put the viewer in the atmosphere of blindness as much as one can in a visual medium. Many scenes were awkwardly framed with soft and shifting focus. It often felt like a Mark Rothko painting. Anyway, Mr. Hull recorded a plethora of tapes to capture the feeling of being blind, not from the big obvious points, but by highlighting how blindness effects the little things in life such as smiling and how not being able to see a person smile back at you made him feel like smiling is less enjoyable. Overall, this was a slower paced film that effectively portrayed Mr. Hull coming to terms, find reasons for and solutions to living with his blindness.

I want to shower praise on the director, actors and everyone involved in this film. But this magnificent meditation exceeds the sum of its parts. If you tackle your life head on. If you question the relationship between your senses and your awareness and, indeed, what that might imply about what you are. If you appreciate the right amount of silence, and delicate, subtle cinematography. If you are moved by music that infuses the narrative with a thoughtful atmosphere. If you respect originality of technique in an industry that is struggling with habit. If all of these and then that ineffable magic of something greater, then please, experience this.

The premise behind this is quite intriguing and so going into it I was really curious about how the whole thing would be executed. It's a documentary and drama film at the same time. It reminded me a lot of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. There's something quite lyrical and poetic about the filmmaking. The cinematography needed to really capture the kinds of images that could be going around this man's head and through the recorded audio it is able to effectively capture that. I think a problem I had with the film is that I never fully connected with it. I was only able to admire it from a distance because of that disconnect, and because of that I am able to recommend it and say that it is worth the effort. However, it is unfortunate that I wasn't able to like it more.