Blind to Protest Blindness Flick

Blind people quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves, and trading sex for food. Such a scenario, as shown in the movie Blindness, is not a clever allegory for a breakdown in society, says the president of the National Federation of the Blind. It plans to protest the film, claiming the movie, based on the novel by Jose Saramago, reinforces the inaccurate stereotype that the blind can't care for themselves.

"The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie," said Marc Maurer. "Blindness doesn't turn decent people into monsters." The organization plans to protest the movie, released by Miramax Films, at 75 theaters around the country on Friday. Protesters will hand out fliers that read: "I'm not an actor. But I play a blind person in real life." (More film stories.)