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Recommended by Title

Recommended by Disability

Blind: Major Films   no photo.
TitleCactus (1986)
Alternative/Original Title
DisabilityBlind
CountryAustralia
Length93
GenreDrama
Rating4
DirectorPaul Cox
CastIsabelle Huppert Robert Menzies Norman Kaye Monica Maughan Banduk Marika Sheila Florance
NotesFrench woman on holiday in Australia loses eye in a car accident and possibility of losing the other. She falls in love with a blind man. This film may be ideal for provoking discussion since it debates what blindness means. Cactus is a slow paced, rambling film but along with what's on the screen and the sound track there runs a train of thought. If you engage with this, if you amplify the allusions, if you debate with the medical evidence, if you empathise with the actors then you should enjoy this film. Consider previous references to the proposition of romance for the disabled person. How some films have paired him or her off with someone who is different from the norm to achieve some kind of balance. A missing leg for a missing eye sort of thing. To be honest have you never weighed the scales yourself : I'm disabled therefore I can't look at able bodied people for a partner. Or on a broader scale: I consider myself ugly therefore why waste my time fancying someone who is good looking. In 'Cactus' the character (Isabelle Hupert, you may only know her from 'Heaven's Gate') has lost one eye and might lose the other. She falls in love with a man who is blind. She then deliberates with herself whether to choose complete blindness so she is on a par with the man she loves. But not because of anything I've said above but in order to understand his world better. A sacrifice for love. Whether you think her choice idealistic, unrealistic, whatever, this is a film which sets out to make you think.

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