Fernando Meirelles directs this thriller based on the novel by Portuguese author Jose Saramago. In an unnamed city an epidemic of 'white sickness' sweeps the population, causing sufferers to turn instantaneously blind. Ordinary citizens find themselves lost in the middle of busy streets, forced to rely on the goodwill of strangers - which, it turns out, is in short supply as criminals take advantage of the sightless, seizing the food rations proffered by the government and demanding payment in valuable or sexual favours. Julianne Moore plays a doctor's wife whose sight is unaffected by the plague. Following her afflicted husband into quarantine, she keeps her sight a secret, and manages to guide a group of seven strangers out onto the ravaged streets of the city, where the trappings of civilisation have all but disappeared. Their voyage is a dangerous one, and the group's survival ultimately depends on simple human acts of kindness and empathy.