Um Sonho Possível

In the fact-based film The Blind Side, a burly homeless black teenager Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) is taken in by the family of Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), a spunky white Christian mother of two and assisted through school until he achieves success as a football player in high school and college, eventually being drafted in the first round by the professional Baltimore Ravens. The film, written and directed by John Lee Hancock and adapted from a book by Michael Lewis, is undemanding entertainment that lacks a great deal of subtlety but is continuously entertaining and emotionally involving and redefines the true meaning of family values.

Michael who is known initially as "Big Mike" has been abandoned by his drug-addicted mother and survives in the slums of Memphis, Tennessee only by his wits. He sleeps where he can find a warm place -- a friend's couch, a Laundromat, a school gym -- when a family friend intervenes and helps him enroll in a private Christian high school. Sensing the boys' potential, football coach Cotton (Ray McKinnon) convinces the administrators of the school to admit him although he knows that he will not be eligible to play football unless he can keep up his grades. Seeing Michael alone wandering the streets, he is given a lift and taken home and made a member of the family by Leigh Anne, an interior designer who lives with her husband Sean (Tim McGraw), teenage daughter Collins (Lily Collins), and SJ (Jae Head) an expressive little boy who provides most of the film's comic moments.

Living with the Tuohy family allows Michael to learn to trust and to begin to express some of his feelings from a life of poverty and neglect. Michael who is so big that Leigh Anne can hardly find any clothes to buy for him is also gentle and lacks the killer instinct required of a football tackle. Tutored by the adorable SJ and counseled by Leigh Anne to view the team as a family he has to protect, Michael begins to develop his aggressiveness as a left tackle and develops his skills, eventually turning the team into winners. To raise his grades to be eligible for a college scholarship, the Tuohys hire Miss Sue, remarkably performed by Kathy Bates, who admits to the Republican family that she is a Democrat, prompting Sean to remark that he "never thought they would have a black son before they met a Democrat." Besides his grades, however, Michael must overcome several more obstacles that stand in his way before he can enter college.

The Blind Side shows Michael Oher achieving a transformation in his life based on his relationship with the family who took him and nurtured him to independence and self-respect. Sandra Bullock delivers an emotionally resonant performance as a woman whose life is enriched by her simple act of kindness and courage to act from her values. While the film breaks no new ground stylistically, it also resists genre clichés, has no movie villains, avoids cheap sentiment, and, in spite of patronizing images in its trailers and advertising posters, is a humorous, heartwarming, and satisfying experience. Ultimately, The Blind Side is not a film about sports but about the rewards of showing love and support when it is not always accepted or understood by the community.

I must confess I was weeping 5 minutes into the movie and that's unusual for me. I had read the book and in the book nothing is that black or that white for that matter, but this is as movie and as a movie it works. I was expecting commercial interruptions every few minutes, the film felt so much like a TV movie. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. The Michael Oher story had to be told even with the poetic licenses that the film takes, shamelessly. Sandra Bullock plays herself beautifully as always and her character with all her saintly stern, southern modern American woman could not move away too far from "Miss Congeniality". But it works and at the end of the day, after paying the prices one pays at the box office, it's almost enough. Why they had to ruin it with an Oscar nomination? The nomination makes you look for something in her performance that clearly isn't there. If you go to a Sandra Bullock movie, the quality of the movie may vary but she is always terrific, playing that Sandra Bullock character. Good for her.

I saw this last night at a screening and found it to be a very inspiring movie. I love sports movies as well as movies based on true stories, so this film hit multiple buttons for me personally, but reactions of others leaving the theater seemed equally positive.

As with any sports movie, you must have an underdog to cheer for, and Michael Oher is that underdog. Having been removed by CPS from his crack-addicted mother's home as a child and bounced from foster home to foster home, Oher has been staying on a friend's couch. He is reluctantly accepted to a private school when the football coach sees potential in him and pressures the school's admissions board to give him a chance.

Unfortunately, being an undereducated black youth in a predominantly white private school doesn't magically turn his life around, and in addition to struggling to understand his classes, he finds himself sleeping in an all night laundromat after the stay at the friend's house ends. While walking on a cold, rainy night , Oher is offered a ride and then a place to sleep for the night by the Leigh Anne Tuohy, whose children attend the same school Michael does. It's this single act of kindness that begins a chain of events that will change this underdog's life, eventually resulting in his being a top 2009 NFL draft pick and signing with the Baltimore Ravens.

The actors brought plenty of life to the characters they were playing. It was a pleasure to watch Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy, making a somewhat minor character in the film memorable. Sandra Bullock's portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy was fascinating--I'd really love to meet Mrs. Tuohy in person. Jae Head as SJ became my favorite character in the movie, practically stealing the show as it were. Quinton Aaron's portrayal of Oher leans heavily to the strong, silent type, but there is a quiet grace and gentleness that comes through.

Obviously, nothing is quite as slick and clean as Hollywood plays it in movies like this, and there were issues and controversies surrounding the Tuohy family and the assistance they offered Michael Oher. Some of it is depicted in the movie, though not all, and there are many who will decry this film for that. It's a given that there is more to a story than what you see on the screen...condensing years into a two hour presentation requires some compromise...and it is meant to be entertainment after all.

I only had a couple criticisms. One, at 126 minutes, the movie was a little too long. I think 8-10 minutes of editing would have really tightened it up and eliminated a couple slower moments. Second, Sandra Bullock's accent seemed a little too forced at times. And finally, what happened to Steve Hamilton, the boy whose family Michael was staying with when he started attending Briarwood? Once introduced as his father pressures the coach for scholarships for Steve and Michael, he disappears from the movie. Minor issues that didn't keep this from being an extremely enjoyable movie, but did help keep it from being a perfect 10.

I have just returned from seeing the blind side. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie, particularly it's more poignant moments. Yes, this is a sports story, yes this is a biopic, but it is also in large part an interpersonal drama. It is rare to see a movie these days that relies on drama to carry it-not special effects, lush historically accurate wardrobe, or astounding make up- just a story that resonates with the viewer. That this story is based on contemporary facts makes it all the more resonant. Events that might have been handled superficially, predictably or exploited for dramatic purposes were instead presented in a nuanced and profound manner. Michael's biological mother was portrayed with dignity and compassion. In short, the aspects of Michael's story that make it moving and inspiring were captured with skill and integrity. As for the negative feedback regarding this movie that began when the only the trailers were available - I think the comments might be more a reflection of the world view of the authors rather than a reflection of the quality of the movie or the reality of Michael's story. Some people think the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" was a story about racism in the south, or that "The Crying Game" was a movie about the IRA - to me those were the settings for the drama, and not the drama itself. John Lee Hancock really bit off a lot when he took on this project-but as it turned out, it was not more than he could chew. Remember when Attorney General Eric Holder commented on how we were a nation of cowards when it came to openly discussing race? With this movie, Hancock has demonstrated he is not one of those cowards. He did not ignore the racial or class differences of the characters in this movie, and he avoided using the movie to make a social statement with the movie. He allowed these character attributes to be what they were in reality, and told the human drama in an effective and sensitive manner.

I've been reading lot of horrible comments that are based solely on the issues surrounding the movie rather than the movie itself. I wasn't excited to see this movie, I'm not interested in sports at all. The movie kept my attention though and well. It moved along quickly and pulled me into the story and left me feeling inspired. I wasn't excited to see a blonde sandy bullock in a sports movie, I think that's what might have turned me off the most, but she did really good job! It's rare to see a movie where there's a really strong lead female character. Whether you like Leigh Anne Touhy or not in the end, she is certainly entertaining and Sandra Bullock does a great job of bringing her onto the screen. The youngest son did an amazing job! So much talent in him. The character of Mike I think could have used a few more lines, even if he's supposed to be shy and reserved. All the actors really did a great job though for the most part. No it's not an epic Oscar winning film, although I wouldn't be surprised if Bullock got nominated for something for her acting. It is NOT loaded with propaganda as the other reviews might suggest. It's a light entertaining pick me up film that would be an excellent choice to bring the family to, most likely the reason why they released it over the Holidays.