Land of the Blind

There's nothing particularly revolutionary about writer-director Robert Edwards' grimly satiric political fable.

The dialogue creaks, all the more so since we know better than it does what it is going to say.

It's an easy movie to loathe, but it's designed imaginatively and enjoys the committed attention of its cast.

First-time writer-director Robert Edwards is nothing if not ambitious, attempting to encapsulate the history of totalitarian oppression and misguided revolutionary zeal into a broad, blunt, black comedy.

Dark, grim, and cliched Orwellian satire.

One of the more spectacular misfires of recent years, Land of the Blind's lack of originality is only slightly exceeded by its failure to work as political satire.

Mr. Edwards, who wrote and directed Land of the Blind (it's his debut film), might counter that the movie is a Brechtian comedy that's not supposed to make literal sense: the big picture is what matters. But the big picture is a mess.