What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedBlindness
José Saramago · Book · 1999
If you loved Blindness, start with Blindness (Fernando Meirelles, 2008) — a film from the same story. Below: 4 films, 1 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Blindness across media.
What hooked you in Blindness was the way a sudden, catastrophic loss of order forces individuals to confront the darkest edges of humanity.
Start with the source
Adaptation
Blindness
Fernando Meirelles · Film · 2008
Films on the same thread
Children of Men
Alfonso Cuarón · Film · 2006
Shares 2 threads with Blindness: Dystopian Fiction, Speculative Fiction.
Like Blindness, this film examines the collapse of social structures and the desperate, moral struggle to preserve a shred of hope when the future of the human race feels extinguished.
Bird Box
Susanne Bier · Film · 2018
Explores: Sensory Deprivation, Suicidal Contagion, Motherhood.
If the sensory deprivation of Blindness unsettled you, this story of navigating a world rendered dangerous by a mysterious, inescapable force will strike a similarly nerve-wracking and claustrophobic chord.
The Road
Film · 2009
Shares 2 threads with Blindness: Survival, Humanity in crisis.
This film mirrors the bleak, desolate landscape found in Blindness, focusing on the raw instinct to protect loved ones while wandering through the ruins of a society that has decayed.
The Flu
Kim Sung-soo · Film · 2013
Shares a thread with Blindness: Social Breakdown.
The terrifying speed at which medical crisis triggers societal breakdown in this film echoes the chaotic descent into government-mandated quarantine and moral panic depicted so viscerally in Blindness.
Series on the same thread
See
Steven Knight · Series · 2019
Shares 3 threads with Blindness: Survival, Post-Apocalyptic Fiction, Dystopian Fiction.
This series takes the core premise of Blindness to its logical extreme, exploring how a world defined by the absence of sight reshapes tribal power dynamics and human survival instincts.
Podcasts on the same thread
Desinteligencia Artificial
Podcast
Explores: Modern Society, Technology, Future.
Just as Blindness uses a fictional epidemic to critique the failings of modern civilization, this podcast explores the philosophical and social decay inherent in our current technological and cultural trajectory.
1619
The New York Times · Podcast · 2019
Explores: systemic racism, national identity, legacy of slavery.
While grounded in history, this series examines the systemic fractures in society that mirror the brutal social hierarchies and critical moral failures exposed during the crisis in Blindness.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is the 2008 movie Blindness a direct adaptation of the 1999 book?
Yes, the 2008 film Blindness is a cinematic adaptation of the 1999 novel written by José Saramago. It follows the same premise of a city struck by an epidemic of sudden blindness and the subsequent societal collapse.
What is the primary conflict described in the book Blindness?
In the book Blindness, the primary conflict involves the government segregating citizens affected by an epidemic of sudden blindness. As conditions deteriorate, a criminal element gains control within the compound, leading to a fire and the eventual escape of the blind into a deserted, looted city.
Does the movie Blindness cover the entire plot of the book?
The 2008 movie Blindness adapts the narrative arc of the 1999 novel. It depicts the core events, including the initial epidemic, the segregation of the afflicted, the takeover by criminals within the compound, and the characters navigating a ruined city after escaping.
Should I read the book Blindness before watching the 2008 movie?
Reading the 1999 book Blindness before watching the 2008 film adaptation provides the original context for the epidemic and the societal breakdown. Both versions detail the same story of segregated blind citizens struggling to survive in a city that has been looted and abandoned.