It’s been years since I saw a movie like Blindness.  I spent the last half hour savoring that rare thought: “I have no idea what’s going to happen next.”  The premise: A plague of infectious blindness erupts, and turns the world upside down.  I’ll avoid spoilers, so just let me say that the story unfolds with horrifying realism.  The audience gets to see the political economy of fear, the social science of group formation and group conflict, and the psychology of hunger.  And as in every great post-apocalyptic story, we relearn the great lesson: When times are tough, man is wolf to man.

Do not see this movie if you lack a cast-iron stomach – it has the visceral intensity of the original Saw.  “Graphic” shows like L&O and CSI will not prepare you.  You will feel like a witness to the awful experiences of real people.   At the same time, though, you will see how little it takes to make people smile in desperate circumstances – and be grateful for all the gifts you have.  At this very moment, I’m not just glad I can see.  I’m also very glad to live in the modern world.  The only place I’m likely to see man be wolf to man is at the movies.