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.

First of all, Quinton did a fine job in the lead role. Let's get that out of the way. Great acting job. He took the material he was given and played the role very well.

However, this film is pure Hollywood sap, a "feel good" movie that picks and chooses factual elements and builds a fictional tale around them. The film loves the character of Leigh Ann (who is really not that interesting, although she is kind hearted and generous), and as a result, Oher is relegated to a shy over-sized charity case with no clue and no skills of any sort, other than his natural kindness and resilient character. That strengthens the focus on Leigh Ann's rescue actions, how she "saved" this poor aimless kid and gave him all the life skills he needed to succeed on and off the football field. It resonates with white suburban do-gooder audiences, but it's just not accurate.

In truth, Michael Oher was already a very good football player when the Tuohy family took him in. And he had a bold, confident personality that rubbed off on everyone and made him a natural leader. He was a motivated, focused kid who knew what he wanted, but came from an environment where no one really cared or provided support. He was NOT a shy, introverted pathetic case. He just came from a terrible domestic environment and found stability with a nice rich family. The real story of Michael Oher is how he caught the luckiest of breaks and escaped the ghetto jungle and was able to leave all that soul crushing crap behind, and focus on academics and athletics in a completely different upper middle class environment. It's a study in how important environment is in the life of kids and teenagers, and how it can make a huge difference.

But what we, the audience, receive is a Hallmark channel film that is nothing more than a lazy, formulaic, fictionalized "warm your heart" chick flick couched in a football world. Sassy dialogue, woman-takes-charge scenes, tender moments, etc -- all the usual stuff is there. The film would have been FAR better had it focused on Oher as the lead character, instead of Bullock. No offense to Bullock, who is a fine actor.

It is well known that real life Michael Oher was very displeased with this film, and how it portrayed him.

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.

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.