The Bilateral Characteristics of a Fiction-Based Film Revealed in "Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira"
Films based on original novels are often strongly rebuked by critics for not being as good as
the original. But this is unavoidable. In the first place, it is difficult to have something that
surpasses the original. We like the original, so we try to enjoy it in various ways, and we make
movies and dramas, but in the end, we can't achieve what we expected beyond the original.
The film "Ensaio Sobre a cegueira" also received cold reviews from critics. However, the bad
deeds in the film feel less disgusting than in the novel, and it is refreshing. The novel unfolds
from various perspectives, with the greatest evil that the reader can imagine. However, the
scenes are shown in the film block the audience's imagination. This is a limitation of novelbased films that many critics typically point out. However, it can be evaluated that the level of
harassment in "Ensaio Sobre a cegueira" is rather faded in the film.
In addition, the stylistic characteristics of the theme of Saramago make it more difficult to
embody when adapting the novel for film. A stylistic characteristic of the theme Saramagu is
that the author continues to speak, describe, and explain the characters line by line without
using any punctuation marks. In this respect, the barrier to entry may be lower for the general
public to see a movie rather than a novel. I also liked the movie better in terms of understanding.
However, since the writer did not write the punctuation marks, the work has become more
focused. It is easy to miss a little bit of tension and miss who is talking to whom, so readers
should stay focused and read again the sentences that they don't understand well. In this respect,
the film was more comfortable to understand the narrative as it was visually revealed in front
of the eyes which characters were exchanging what kind of words and in what situations
without paying attention like when reading a novel.
In this novel, all the characters are not mentioned by their real names but are referred to by
their external characteristics. When reading a book for the first time, the names of the characters
are not clearly stated, so the readers should establish the characters in their minds. This slows
down the readers' reading speed. However, the film has the advantage that the audience can
immerse themselves in the film without much difficulty because the characters in the book are
directed in a fixed form according to the director's taste. In particular, the limited space in the
movie and the limited attire of the characters promote the audience's immersion.
However, it is questionable whether "a man", the starting point of the story in the novel, was
directed as a "Japanese man" in the movie. In the novel, the expression of an unspecified,
undetermined man is possible. However, in a movie, the moment a certain character appears,
the audience recognizes the character with their frame. In that sense, it is not easy to express
"a man" in a novel in a movie. However, it is unfortunate that the director put on a specific
frame of the "Japanese man" without such a process of contemplation. This hinders the
audience's ability to perceive the plot from a more objective point of view. In the novel,
Saramago does not even give names to the characters, but describes them as their characteristics,
however, while filming this novel, the movie maker destroyed this feature.
Meanwhile, what the novel and the movie have in common is that they pay attention to the fact
that the characters are blind. The process of blinding most people in the city is quite terrifying.
Blindness at the beginning of the work is a revolutionary disaster that completely changes the
lives of individuals. However, we discover that the appearance of a society of blind people is
not very different from that of a normal society before. They alike fight for their lives for food
and property, use violence to seize power, spend metaphysical discussions in city squares, and
even find inner solace in cathedrals. In the end, even in the extreme change in which everyone
loses sight, the society where people gather does not change much, because the essence of
people has not changed.
"I don't think we were blind and then we see again. I think we were blind from the start, and
we are still blind_ Wife of the blind doctor
In other words, it is not so important that being blind or not. The essential attributes of human
beings define the character of society. Therefore, the role of the doctor's wife who only
maintains sight in novels and movies can be seen as the role of a witness to testify to this point.
Another aspect that novels and films have in common is anonymity. As mentioned earlier, it
has a peculiar feature that character names do not appear in the novel. The characters are
referred to as the doctor, the doctor's wife, the first blind man, the woman with sunglasses, and
the car thief.
"The doctor's wife thought: He doesn't tell his name. He knows that name doesn't matter here."
The names that designate the characters are what they look like just before they go blind, so
the names better represent their essence and characteristics than their names. In this respect,
filming "Ensaio Sobre a cegueira" inevitably faces its limitations. In the novel, a name is not
given, but the appearance just before blindness acts as a name. This allows the reader to better
feel the blind situation itself. However, viewers who watch the film can open their eyes and see
all the scenes vividly, which inevitably undermines what the author is essentially trying to say
in the novel. In addition, (assuming that most people who enjoy and enjoy movies have normal
vision), we (the audience) have no choice but to immerse ourselves in the ophthalmologist's
wife. Because she is the only person in the story who has opened her eyes. Also, her films
revolve around her. However, in the novel, I was able to immerse myself in the viewpoints and
perspectives of more diverse people, but since the reader of the film relies heavily on vision,
the time to appreciate the work is bound to become narrower.
Finally, we can see the significance of blindfolding the eyes of the sacred statue in the cathedral.
At the end of the novel, the doctor's wife enters the cathedral, and she is shocked when she sees
the statue's eyes damaged. In conclusion, this scene symbolizes that people believe what they
want to believe and see what they want to see.
Even though people were blind, the sacred state could not have been equally blind, someone
damaged the sacred statue's eyes and made them identical to themselves. This shows that
people simply cannot accept a different appearance from them. In other words, they were
comforted only after they made even the sacred statue look like themselves. This scene in the
novel shows that people edit things as they want to see and believe what they want to see. At
the same time, it shows the low self-esteem of humans indirectly in that other people feel
satisfied only when they are in the same state as themselves.
However, it is regrettable that this part was not directed in the movie. In the novel, the eyes of
the icon are damaged and the doctor's wife is shocked, but in the movie, such a scene is not
highlighted. Rather, the limitations of directing are revealed to the extent that even though the
blind people cannot see, the eyes of the sacred statue are neatly tied with an eyepatch, wonder
where they found the eyepatch and neatly covered their eyes.
As such, movies based on the original novel have some merits and some limitations. Of course,
the limitations stand out more than the strengths, but it comes from the human desire to enjoy
and enjoy the original novel in various ways. This is because people constantly produce and
consume films based on novels, even though they know these limitations are exposed.
References
https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%88%88%EB%A8%BC%20%EC%9E%90%EB%93%A4%EC%9
D%98%20%EB%8F%84%EC%8B%9C#rfn-2
https://brunch.co.kr/@nozam/206
http://www.naeil.com/news_view/?id_art=429770