The Blind Side (2009)

“The Blind Side” was without a doubt the runaway hit of 2009. It came out of nowhere and it would appear that everyone went to go see it, many people saw it twice. Directed by John Lee Hancock, “The Blind Side” is adapted from the book by Michael Lewis. Nominated for a number of Academy Awards including Best Picture. I guess I understood why it was so popular. On the surface it's a feel-good movie that seems to hit all the right notes. I wanted to hate the movie when I saw it. In fact, I was excited to write a bad review of it. While I watched it I couldn't help but like the movie. However, I quickly realized that what I liked about it was actually a veneer. Like the fake town in “Blazing Saddles” it looks good at first glance, but there's not substance, no backbone to it. It's lacking.

The movie follows Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless teenager who grew up in the Memphis projects who just happens to be black and huge. Asked by a friend's father to help enroll Michael at the local private Christian school, football coach Cotton (Ray McKinnon) takes one look at the boy and agrees. It doesn't take long for Michael to realize that he doesn't belong there, and he's most certainly not comfortable there. Plus, he's still homeless. Enter Leigh Ann Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), who sees Michael walking home in the rain at night. She tells her husband (Tim McGraw) to pick him up, and they, along with their two kids Collins (Lily Collins) and S.J. (Jae Head) bring Michael home with them, at first just for the night. Eventually it becomes a permanent thing as the Tuohy's adopt Michael.

They hire a tutor (Kathy Bates) to help Michael with his studies, and Mrs. Tuohy even takes over coaching him in football once or twice. Michael turns out to be an excellent football player for the high school and soon everybody likes Michael. Michael eventually gets so good at football that he can pretty much choose wherever he wants to go to college for free. Of course he chooses the Tuohy's alma mater which is also his tutor's alma mater. The only real conflict in this movie comes towards the end when the Tuohy's are investigated for inappropriate recruiting, and for an hour or two Michael wonders if the Tuohy's actually love him or not. Mrs. Tuohy comes back and reassures him they do. Everything is wrapped up nicely and Michael goes to college and is eventually drafted into the NFL.

I get what this movie is trying to be. I mean it IS based on a true story. There really was a young homeless black boy named Michael Oher that was housed and later adopted by a wealthy, Christian white family. All of this happened. However, this movie tells a story that is supposed to be redemptive and give us hope. This is where, after really looking at the movie, I disconnect. Yes, this movie has a happy ending. That does not mean it is redemptive. For a story to be redemptive, there has to be despair.

If the movie is about Michael, then there is only a modicum of despair. Yes, we see that he is homeless, although he doesn't seem unhappy about it, he's not being abused, he's obviously not starving. We also see where he came from and where is mom is living. It was a bad place, and if he had still lived there it would have been a very different life for Michael. That isn't despair. He had already left the projects. However, I do not think this movie is about Michael.

No, this movie is about Leigh Ann Tuohy. In this respect we see absolutely no despair. There was not a single moment where we see Mrs. Tuohy as anything but saintly. There is no real change in Mrs. Tuohy. It's interesting, in the movie there is an exchange between Mrs. Tuohy and one of her society friends where they tell her that she's changing that boys life. To which she, of course responds, “No, he's changed mine.” No he hasn't. From the very beginning she wanted to help him. We never see what she was like before. We never see any change.

A movie where nothing changes and it's only a happy ending is not a redemptive movie. It's a happy movie. We see no real struggle, no despair, no depravity in any of our characters. It would seem, nobody in this movie required redemption, and if that's the case, why watch it. Unfortunately, I think many people will watch this because they feel like by watching it and enjoying it, they're doing something good. In this regard this movie can be dangerous., especially considering the very shallow use of Christianity in the movie.

Again, I enjoyed this movie. It's nearly impossible not to. However, not all that glitters is gold. “The Blind Side” is not gold.

5/10