Blind Man's Bluff

A blind beggar has his box of money stolen. He begs on the same street every day, and there the theft turns into an event. Before long the matter goes well beyond one box. The film turns a small injustice into a scene of a whole community. Whose pain is seen and whose word is listened to is the real question. The account does not make the beggar a figure to be pitied; it keeps him a person at the centre of what happens. Manoel de Oliveira’s way of holding a scene at length can be seen here too. Luís Miguel Cintra and Beatriz Batarda appear in the ninety three minute Portuguese film, completed in 1994.