Do you suppose an apocalyptic fable would ever possess any lightness or even rogue humour? No, social disintegration and degradation are the order of the day, and Fernando Meirelles' Blindness is no exception. Adapted from Nobel laureate Jose Saramago's 1995 novel, Blindness is provocative cinema. The script by Don McKellar bears witness to a plague of blindness, a "white" disease in which people see only white light. As a city struggles to cope with the fallout, a panicked government quarantines the infected. The film follows a few characters into a poorly equipped asylum where social order breaks down into gang conflict between republicans and royalists. The republicans have a ringer though. The wife (Julianne Moore) of a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) can actually see but tells no one. As the place descends into chaos, first comes acquiescence by other wards, then rapes, murders and rebellion. Only then do the prisoners discover the guards have disappeared. The survivors then stumble into a city of starvation. Meirelles bathes the screen in overexposure and blurriness to convey the terrifying sense of fear. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here