Sandra Bullock ends the world in Bird box

Science fiction was always the genre that best represented times of crisis. In the present, several dystopias have resulted in the most intense and tight portrayals of a convulsive era and reluctant to simplifications. That is why literary accounts of the past are recovered, that metaphors are interwoven with a greater or lesser degree of subtlety, that the apocalyptic scenarios are the ones that best odysseys build on contemporary life.

Bird Box: blindly, the new premiere of Netflix, retrieves Josh Malerman's bestseller of 2014 to place us in a world in which darkness is no longer a territory of fears and monstrosities, but all of this now appears in the light of the day. 

Malorie (Sandra Bullock) lives his last days of normality without knowing it. His paintings reflect his creative spirit, the arrival of his sister (brief but remarkable intervention by Sarah Paulson) reminds him of that protection that always counts. But the outbreak of a distant world crisis knocks on her door when she least expects it: on the way to the hospital to control the last days of her pregnancy the psychosis that plagues Europe under the fever of mass chaos and suicides drags her into a new reality in which the anomaly becomes an unexpected routine. 

The German director Susanne Bier appropriates some elements of the genre - the use of off-field, the contrast between subjective vision and direct gaze - but what really interests her is the staging of a world in which she has evaporated social regulations. That return to a primitivism without rules is the one that dominates the portrait of the group that resists the threats of those who occupy the outside. The cynic, the selfish, the cowardly, the supportive, all converge with Malorie in that bubble that represents a strange boat of Noah, where everything can be lost or start again. The big disadvantage of Bird Box is that a few months ago it premiered a place in silence, a film in which John Krasinski tells a similar story and makes it much better.

There the threat was the sound, here is the look, a difference that explains that this is a dark and disturbing film, absorbed by the mise-en-scène of the terror, and that here the light and the daytime nature become the dominant lines, placing a danger never too concrete, scattered in the movement of the leaves and in the burning eyes of those who believe that this new world is salvation. Bullock works like a hero to his regret, sustains with his presence a story that at times becomes weak and predictable, and gets us to believe -though that idea of ​​a mother "under construction" 

There is something fascinating about exploring urban settings, familiar to the audience that suddenly becomes deserted and devastated by death and destruction, something that Danny Boyle discovered long ago in "Extermination". 

There seems to be a kind of climate of time, end of time related to global warming, the destruction of nature and the advance of certain political tendencies that seem to lead even filmmakers of the so-called "authors" to turn to gender At the end of the world: this year, for example, Argentine filmmaker Ivan Fund brought to the cinema a story about a group of children whose parents fall asleep and do not wake up. The adventures of these guys reminiscent of those of "Cuenta Conmigo" and the most spectacular moments of "Stranger Things", narrated by Fund with subtlety and innocence, can be seen in "They will come soft rains", available in Qubit. 

Susanne Bier is another of those "authors" who have given themselves to the post-apocalypse: in a year that has had this year several entries to the subgenre, including "Ready Player One" by Spielberg, a failed adaptation of "Fahrenheit 451" made by HBO, those held by the critics "I think we are alone now" and "A place in silence" and a couple of Netflix proposals like "Rain", "Cargo" and "Mute", which seem to indicate that the subgenre is doing well in the platform, yesterday joined the list "Bird Box", movie released on Netflix and directed by the prestigious Danish Oscar winner for "In a better world" and the Golden Globe for "The Night Manager". 

The prolific filmmaker of "Corazones abiertos" and "Las Cosas queue persimmons en el Fuego" directs Sandra Bullock, once again revealing herself as one of the great actresses of her generation, who in "Bird Box" plays a woman who tries to guide his two children to salvation after a mysterious "something" invisible kills almost the entire population. The weapon of this enemy is visual, so the characters spend much of their time outdoors with their eyes covered. 

The proposal of Bier, with a script by the coveted Eric Heisserer ("The arrival"), has in its premise the idea of ​​deprivation of a sense explored this year in "A place in silence" (then it was the voice, now it is the view) that works as a device to generate suspense: the spectator moves along with those characters with their eyes covered and lives the same suspense, the same fear of not knowing what they have in front of them, that they go through. 

In this sense, the direction of Bier works: although the resolution is to be expected and the story narrated in two times, it appears as a script quirk, a way of generating boundary situations one behind the other, rather than something integral to the story, the " set pieces "of action and blind pursuit are captivating, accompanied by the hypnotic music of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. 

When a mysterious force sweeps the world population, only one thing is certain: if you see it, it takes your life. Facing the unknown, Malorie finds love, hope, and a new beginning. Now, she must flee with her two children through a treacherous river to the only place that could offer them refuge. But to survive, the family will have to embark on a dangerous two-day journey blindfolded. 

The film shows some weaknesses, in the lack of development of concepts and ideas: Bullock shines, but the cast, rich in names (Trevante Rhodes, Tom Hollander, Sarah Paulson, John Malkovich) barely has room to be more than a lieutenant of the needs of Malorie (the main character) in the plot; in the end, the universe and the invisible enemy seems to be at the service of Malorie's emotional growth, the metaphor is revealed as a scripting trick to explore certain concepts; Concepts, such as those of maternity and emotional connection in the 21st century, solidarity in times of crisis or overcoming traumas from love, which to top it all are barely explored in the script with a couple of underlined phrases, are topics that have been touched on depth, a bit of manual. 

According to an interview with Netflix, one of the things that most attracted her to the project was the fact of not being able to understand Malorie, her character in this story: "I found it very difficult to understand someone who is not totally committed to their children. Is pregnancy something frightening? Yes, but as complicated as to disassociate yourself as much as Malorie does? That was very foreign to me, so it was very interesting to have the opportunity to explore those feelings” 

The specialized critic has assured that without a doubt Sandra Bullock's performance will move us to tears, as is her custom. In addition, many compare the film with "A place in silence", also a film of 2018 starring Emily Blunt in which the senses are explored, although in this case is the view, not the ear. 

The Oscar winner had to learn to be guided without seeing, so she turned to a blind teacher who taught her to use her other senses: "He taught me to trust in the ability we all have to feel, which something we do not use often is. He can ride a bicycle, he's a runner, he taught me to follow my intuition, it's as if you had a radar, "he said in the same interview.