“Blindness”, originally written in Portuguese by a well-known author named José Saramago, is a novel that tells the story of a sudden epidemic of blindness by which nearly all the citzens of an unnamed city were effected. It is an interesting and breathtaking story that envolves the reader in a way that makes it almost impossible to stop reading it, because you can’t wait to find out how it ends. In the beginning of the novel, the author describes the events in which the main characters went blind. The first one was a man who was driving his car in very chaotic traffiic and then, unexpectedly is caught by the blindness that is not yet seen as an epidemic. As many people start losing their sight, the government decides in an attempt to contain the apparent cotagion, to take extremely repressive measures quarantining all the blind people in an asylum which quickly becomes overcrowded. Those who were quarantined were forced to stay in filthy and inhumane conditions while they struggled to survive.
Avid readers will, in many cases, say that when a book is adapted into a movie, it becomes an oversimplified version of the original and leaves behind many important facts that cause the story to be interestingly overwhelming. I partially agree with this sort of opinion, however, the film version of the book was also a fantastic production. The book and the movie can be seen through different perspectives. The book allows you to let your imagination flow and create alongside the author which is a very positive aspect of the book. On the other hand, the film might present something that is already finished and all you have to do is sit and watch without the need of any further thinking to imagine the scenes, the music, the characters’ performances, and the concrete image of the environment in which the movie takes place. Despite the lack of creativity on the viewer’s part, the film fills everyone who watches it, regardless the background experinece they have related to arts, with deep emotions and reflexion about life as a whole.
In conclusion, both the book and the movie have their own role in people’s lives and can reach different audiences. Therefore, either reading the book or watching the movie may certainly be a good way to entertain oneself. Doing both can also be surprisingly interesting because, as far as I know, it is always positive and enriching to see things through different perspetives, and due to the high level of reflecion I experienced through these pieces of art, I can tell that it is worth it.