Blindness, the newest “artsy” film by director Fernando Meirelless (City of God, The Constant Gardener), ironically doesn’t lack vision but turns a blind eye to anything resembling story or character development. This adaptation of Portuguese Nobel Prize winner, Jose Saramago’s apocalyptic novel achieves little in the grand scheme of cinema but is unique in showcasing the “fade to white” throughout a large portion of the film. When white screens are paid more attention to than story or character development, then you know something’s wrong.

The movie opens on a shot of a congested intersection of a never disclosed city (it was filmed in Canada and Brazil) and a man (Yusuke Iseya) who is causing the congestion. This man is also the first man to fall victim of what is coined the “white blindness”, the fictional disease that is never explained and causes post-apocalyptic panic in the undisclosed city. After it becomes clear that the man is blind, the audience gets the first fade to white (and title). The rest of the next twenty minutes or so follow this man and other stereotypical characters (a thief, a prostitute, etc.) that he meets, including a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife (Julianne Moore). All of these characters, which at the time seem completely unimportant, eventually make up the core group of characters, and of course, all go blind. Except for Julianne Moore’s character, which is the early plot twist that fuels the rest of the stagnant plot.

This gang of blind characters and Julianne Moore are all taken to some undisclosed abandoned hospital in order to prevent further contamination to the undisclosed population. There, the doctor sets up a kind of basic society for the rest of the blind captives, with incredible aid from his not-blind wife. Here, the group is introduced to a one-eyed (and blind) old man (Danny Glover) who tells them an almost folk tail-esque account of how everyone in the undisclosed city have also gone blind.

Later, another man who proclaims himself as, “the king of ward three,” (Gael Garcia Bernal) adds the only real tension to the movie as a blind man with a gun, literally. Some violence and a rape scene ensues until Julianne Moore’s character finally decides to take charge, as the only character able to see, kills the king of ward three and burns down the undisclosed quarantined area. Climax.

The main group of characters then travels together for what seems like hours of screen time, with little actual action besides finding food and no end in sight, until they find the doctor’s house. Then our blind characters forget about the worries of the outside world in what can be described as an endless Thanksgiving dinner. Then after some more time, the first blind man gains his sight again. The End.

If this summary seems dull it’s because this isn’t very far off from the actual events of the movie as they’re portrayed. The movie is bleak and seems to drag slower than a stereotypical post-apocalyptic zombie. There is very little color, another genre defining element, that when paired with the claustaphobic, undisclosed locations and fade to whites every couple of minutes, makes for a very dull movie visually. The coolest thing the movie does may be the occasional fade to black, which is only marginally interesting because in creates a slight relief for the audience.

There is a lack of plot, a lack of color, and to top it off, a lack of real character development. The marriage problems and general disconnect that is hinted on between the doctor and his wife, is never really brought out into the open which stunts the development of their characters, which could have been great in a world where the doctor had to completely rely on his wife. Also, another relationship that is hinted on, between the doctor and his patient, the prostitute (Alice Braga), never reaches fruition. Danny Glover’s character is poorly introduced and never really goes anywhere. The best development may be between the first blind man and his wife, who speak Japanese almost exclusively.

The lack of real character development really hurts one of the major themes in the movie, discrimination, which is surprisingly prevalent, even in a blind society. The gradual irrelevance of racism and discrimination is obvious and interesting, however, it is really underpowered by the unbelievable characters and their lack of chemistry. Since they chemistry is lacking at the beginning of the film and lacking at the end, with no real relationships developed well, the message behind the racially diverse group of characters never really reaches it’s potential.

The movie had potential but it is never really developed, along with everything else. The movie takes a long time to develop, never really does, and then takes a long time to end, like this article. It may have been the longest, and bleakest, two hours anyone can ever spend watching a movie and they may as well be blind, or asleep, while watching. If you want to see a post-apocalyptic movie staring Julianne Moore, then wait to rent it. Or just rent Children of Men. It’s better.