National Federation for The Blind to protest Julianne Moore’s thriller ‘Blindness’

Blind people quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves, trading sex for food. For Marc Maurer, who’s blind, such a scenario _ as shown in the movie “Blindness” _ is not a clever allegory for a breakdown in society.

Instead, it’s an offensive and chilling depiction that Maurer fears could undermine efforts to integrate blind people into the mainstream.

“The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie,” said Maurer, president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind. “Blindness doesn’t turn decent people into monsters.”

The organization plans to protest the movie, released by Miramax Films, at 75 theaters around the country when it’s released Friday. Blind people and their allies will hand out fliers and carry signs. Among the slogans: “I’m not an actor. But I play a blind person in real life.”

The movie reinforces inaccurate stereotypes, including that the blind cannot care for themselves and are perpetually disoriented, according to the NFB.

“We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don’t think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help _ at all,” said Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the organization.

[AP via Huffington Post]

Seven staff members of the National Federation for The Blind, including three people who are not blind, attended a screening of the film last week. They’re not simply responding to the trailers and have a legitimate beef with the film.

The film was not received well at Cannes, with the jury giving it a 1.3 average out of 4. Blindness has a 41% aggregate critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it seems like people either love it or hate it. It’s criticized as being too self-important and negative in tone. The film also features Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Here are two trailers.

Thanks to AllMoviePhoto for these pictures.

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