The Blind Side

Rating

Director

John Lee Hancock

Screenplay

John Lee Hancock (Book: Michael Lewis)

Length

128 min.

Starring

Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head, Lily Collins, Ray McKinnon, Kim Dickens, Adriane Lenox, Kathy Bates, Catherine Dyer

MPAA Rating

PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references.

Review

It’s hard to imagine a film critic celebrating or praising (more than just passively) a film that doesn’t push any envelopes; tells its story competently, but without much fuss; or fails to make some grand statement about the human condition. These “mainstream” films are the ones that audiences respond the best to and there’s a reason for that. They are simply just entertaining, involving and satisfying. The Blind Side is one of these films.

There isn’t much new in The Blind Side. It’s your traditional inspiring story about an impoverished high school football star and the woman who took him in and helped him thrive.

We’ve seen the story so many times: wealthy woman rescues poor youngster from obscurity, gives him love and support, and aids him in becoming a strong, independent and accomplished adult. So, it isn’t surprising that a film like this would be brushed aside as mere fluff, but the strength of The Blind Side is not in breaking new ground, but in taking common turf and making it work.

Director John Lee Hancock’s task is simplified greatly thanks to a tremendous performance from Sandra Bullock. Bearing little physical resemblance to the real life mother she portrays, Bullock nevertheless delivers a heartfelt performance that elevates the film beyond mere platitudes.

The film is based on the life of Michael Oher, a prominent football star whose tenure at the University of Mississippi led him to several awards and to became a first-round draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens just this year. The positioning of this film is indeed timely, but even that doesn’t mean a lot to the people who will enjoy this film the most.

The one new element to the inspirational formula is how it’s been blended with a football metaphor. Oher’s field position of left tackle is a prominent point of the story. His responsibility is to protect the quarterback’s blind side from oncoming attackers. Insert Oher’s mother (Bullock) as the quarterback of the story and you’ll see where the concept is going.

And while much of the film is cut-and-paste thematically, a great deal of the story is executed with deliberateness, care and precision. With a wealthy white woman as the protagonist and a young, poor black child is the subject of her affection and concern, it’s fairly easy for a film of this style to hastily apply stereotypes and exploit its subjects with hollow sentiment. It’s not incredibly deep in its handling of the situation, but it also doesn’t feel like its trying to make a fuss about the race issue. It’s brought up three times and each time, the discussion is fairly straightforward and perfectly reasonable given the circumstances.

But, this type of film seems to still earn its detractors, which is unfortunate. These same people probably didn’t object nearly as strenuously to 2005 Best Picture winner Crash which carelessly applied racial stereotypes while hitting hard at its specious, pro-racial-diversity message. It flagrantly flaunted its purported racial diversity. In contrast, The Blind Side makes this feel less like a cause-célèbre and more like an honest film.

Credit where credit is due. This isn’t just your standard film about race. It’s definitely not a sports. It is rather simply about a mother’s instinct and how race, political leanings, religion, orientation or other factors shouldn’t make a determination on what action should or should not be taken. When you act morally and thoughtfully without regard for these concerns, you have moved beyond mere human nature. You’ve become a human being.

Audiences respond to many different stimuli and while this isn’t the kind of film that packs in fanboys, action seekers or horror enthusiasts, it simply appeal to everyday people from all walks of life. And, in the end, you could criticize The Blind Side for playing on stereotypes, even if it such a thing isn’t the point. You could even blame all the people who liked the film out of some misplaced desire to “feel good” about a highly charged social subject, using it to assuage any deep-seated guilt for their own actions and perceptions. But you can’t deny that there is a strong sentiment to its message and that whether a few less-than-altruistic people are going to benefit from it, many more may see something wholly different. They may see what the director’s vision intended: a well-made movie about doing what’s right regardless of any outside influence, historical or environmental.

Review Written

December 31, 2009