The Blind Labourer (2016)

• 71%
• 2016
• Jessica Sarah Rinland

The Blind Labourer examines the similarities and contrasts within the whaling and lumber industry. It edits together archive footage from 1930 to 1970 of labourers working in the forests, at sea and in factories, fleeing trees, cutting whales and developing their multiple products for society. Text appears as subtitles throughout the film, written in the first person by an ambiguous whaler who comes to meet a blind lumberjack, fascinated by whales. The blind man forces the whales into realising that whales are living, breathing creature with the largest of brains. The title refers to the blind man, but more importantly to the concept that the labourers participating in these industries have little perspective on what their actions are doing to our planet. The film questions biological classification, and each minute forms' effect on each other and us.