Blind

Blind is the newest film from Norwegian writer and filmmaker Eskil Vogt, and is finally coming to the UK after winning the Screenwriting Award in January at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Ellen Dorrit Petersen stars as main character Ingrid, who we join at the start of the film as she talks about the recent loss of her vision. She serves as the narrator for both her own story and two others who are seemingly unconnected to her, but the story’s progression uncovers strange links and similarities between them all, and gets you wondering just how things are going to work themselves out.

If you were to watch the film out of the corner of your eye you would miss the incredibly subtle development of the deeper levels of the story. The background scenery is often as important as the characters in Blind, and the intelligently placed hints towards something extra going on are fantastic. Staying relatively spoiler free, there is more to what’s going on than you are originally shown; a sudden change in character details or scenery first make you think you’re going a little crazy, but then really pique your interest – leaving you eager to unravel what is going on underneath it all.

The title of Blind leads you into thinking this is a film about the effects of blindness, which in a way it is; however, the film goes further than only showcasing the physical difficulties that can come with blindness and also covers the mental repercussions of having your vision fail on you. Blind tackles methods of coping and the power of imagination, and makes you think about the reliability and power of a single narrator in a story. Can the observations and thoughts of one individual accurately represent what is going on? Can imagined events be as powerful as reality?

The understated manner of the film and the delicately subtle development of the story won’t be for everyone, but nobody will be able to deny that Blind is effective, and deserving of its award. Petersen is noteworthy in the lead role, but the supporting cast are also all excellent – this film wouldn’t have worked as well as it did without the superb skills of everyone involved.

Amy McLelland

Blind is released nationwide on 27^th March 2014.

Watch the trailer for Blind here: