Every time we ogle Brazilian actress Alice Braga, we give thanks for our 20/20 vision. But what if we suddenly went blind and could no longer stare at the 25-year-old beauty from City of God and I Am Legend? Would there be any reason to go on living? (Yes, of course'her sexy accent is reason enough.)

In Braga’s marvelously disturbing new film, Blindness (adapted from José Saramago’s novel), she plays a call girl who is infected by an epidemic of blindness and forcibly quarantined with other newly blind people. Complex was lucky enough to sit with her and gaze into her eyes while discussing the project. Read on for her thoughts on acting without her eyes, doing nude scenes and human cruelty…

Interview by Justin Monroe

Complex: What was it like when you first put on your blindfold during your blindness training?

Alice Braga: It feels like the room gets bigger, like the sound, the volume just gets higher. You get completely protective the moment that you take out your sight. You really hear more things and increase other senses and in a way you look inside. We did that [training] actually not just to copy the feeling of [blindness] but just to try to understand why the posture suddenly gets like this. [Alice slumps forward.] I was thinking the moment I put the blindfold on I was going hit my head all the time, but the other people didn’t. They completely felt other stuff that I didn't feel. It's really personal how you react to it, because in a way it's like a protection for life, like a survivor feeling of it.

Complex: Did you use blinder contacts often when filming?

AB: I was just wearing the lenses for action scenes because sometimes it's really hard to control your eyes. If someone makes a sudden movement, you react. It's natural.

Complex: What was it like acting without sight?

AB: It was really interesting because it brings all your senses higher, like the touching, the smelling. I like a lot to look into people's eyes; I like a lot to hear what the person's saying through their eyes. As an actor, I really like to communicate with the eyes emotions and feelings, like rage and everything. It was a wonderful challenge to face.

Blindness co-star Mark Ruffalo trying his hardest to not look at Braga.

Complex: If you suddenly went blind, what would you miss looking at or watching most?

AB: People's eyes. In this documentary that we saw, Black Sun [about Hugues de Montalembert, a painter who went blind], he says that one of the things that he misses the most is walking the street and locking eyes suddenly with someone that you've never met, that kind of connection. You exchange something, even if it's just a tiny bit.

Complex: If you had to sacrifice a sense to save your life, which would you give up?

AB: My palate [the sense of taste]. I think I would prefer to have the smell more than the palate, even though I love to eat. [Laughs.] Other senses would kind of bring in the palate a little bit.

Braga about to strip off some wet clothes in Blindness.

Complex: Nudity is a big issue for a lot of actresses in the U.S. You've done several nude scenes. In Brazil, is there similar pressure to do or not do nudity?

AB: I don't know the specific behavior with that in Brazil, but I do try myself to understand the necessity of nudity in that specific project. If it's something that I don't believe is necessary, I won't do it, but if it's something that completely fits and is part of the storyline of the character and the character's moment, I don't mind doing it. As an actress, I try to portray life with passion and soul and belief above anything else, so if I hold myself back'like with Lower City, where my character was a prostitute in a love triangle'if I hold myself back for that type of story, I wouldn't be a hundred percent in the character. I would be judging the character in a certain way. I try not to think much about it but just like, to understand and not judge.

Complex: Blindness has a lot to say about human nature and the cruelty mankind is capable of. Do you agree that we're all capable of such cruelty?

AB: Yes, just by looking at the world nowadays. I opened yesterday's newspaper and in the Bronx, a guy was hit with a baseball bat at 3 AM. He was already unconscious but they kept beating him. And this happens all the time; it happens in Brazil; it happens all over. For me, I do think unfortunately we are capable of horrible things.

In a world gone blind, alternate side of the street parking rules are hard to enforce.

Complex: In contrast, Julianne Moore's character, who has her sight, is very selfless looking after the quarantined blind. How thin do you think the line separating kindness and cruelty is?

AB: I don't know the specific line but I do think it's the way that you face things. I think it's really hard to say what is right or what is wrong. I don't think that Gael [Garcia Bernal]'s character is a bad guy or Mark [Ruffalo]'s character is a good guy; I think they are just human beings facing a problem and trying to survive. I think there are so many questions to talk about before just pointing and judging.

Complex: Because we don't know who people are and what has shaped them?

AB: Yeah, exactly. Especially once you are put in an extreme situation, a person can react with violence to protect themselves, and another one can just say, “Calm down, let's try to talk about it.” Who knows what his character has been through his whole life. Maybe he was oppressed his whole life and that's the moment that he said, “If I'm not having this [violent] reaction I'm not going to survive.” It's instinct. So judging it as good or bad is really hard. That's why I think José Saramago's book is so amazing'blindness is a metaphor. We look at [the world around us] but we are not seeing it without really looking at it. I think these are the type of characters that you cannot judge; you have to agree to look upon them with pure vision, if you can.