Author rejects criticism of film ‘Blindness’

Author rejects criticism of film ‘Blindness’

LISBON, Portugal — A Nobel literature laureate said Friday that protests about a film version of his book “Blindness” are unfounded and misguided. Portuguese author Jose Saramago dismissed a threat by a U.S. association of blind people to picket theaters showing the movie, describing it as “a display of meanness based on nothing at all.”

Saramago has described his 1995 novel as disturbing allegory that depicts “a blindness of rationality.” It imagines a mysterious epidemic that causes people to see nothing but fuzzy white light, resulting in a collapse of the social order in an unnamed city.

“Stupidity doesn’t choose between the blind and the non-blind,” Saramago told Portuguese radio station TSF.

The Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind has said it plans to protest the movie in at least 21 U.S. states when it is released Friday.

Today’s birthdays

Author Anne Rice is 67. Actress Susan Sarandon is 62. Actor Armand Assante is 59. Rap producer Russell Simmons is 51. Keyboardist Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys is 49. Singer Jon Secada is 47. Actress Alicia Silverstone is 32. Singer-guitarist Marc Roberge of O.A.R. is 30. Singer Jessica Benson of 3LW is 21.