well meant probably, but racist crap all the same

Rating: 2/10 (5 April 2010)

What is wrong with American Cinema lately? In the old days there would have been drama, passion and suspense in a story like this, today its just goodness all around. That probably makes for a better world, but sadly enough adds up to a rather boring night at the movies. This film has nothing to tell, apart from how great the white American upper middle class is, and I find it surprising that even people in America should be interested in such blatant propaganda. So you might argue, that this tells a true story, but if the story had been that dull to begin with, they either should have put some excitement in it or made a film about my next door neighbor, who's done nothing out of the extraordinary, but who's life is by all accounts more interesting than that of Michael Oher, if this film is anything to go by. But what really pisses me off is the thinly disguised racism that seeps in halfway through. So this big, black kid gets adopted by these nice white folks, who never fight, never have any arguments whatsoever. The big black kid wants a driving license, he gets a driving license, and you know what, because our nice rich white family is so generous, they buy him a pick up truck to go along with it. So he takes their little white son for a drive around the block and crashes the car big time, but do our white parents so much as bat an eyelid and feel any resentment against the big black kid. On the contrary, they are apparently very grateful as he selflessly prevented the son from being injured more severely. Surprisingly enough, no one in this family has ever any issues with this traumatized, rather morose black fellow moving in on short notice. In fact, both kids are rather fond of him straight away. Whatever happened to Douglas Sirk? He could have turned this story around. With John Lee Hanncock it's utterly hopeless. There is just no conflict whatsoever. Everyone gets along like a house on fire. Wait, wait, I forgot, there is Michael's mother (black) who comes across as rather irresponsible and Michael's old buddies (black) who are portrayed as violent, lazy and rude. But as Michael doesn't feel any ties to neither of them, everything would be fine, if it wasn't for an investigator form the National Collegiate Athletic Association (black, what a surprise) who suspects that Michael has been forced to chose a certain University for his career as a football pro. Do you care? We neither do I. The more since American Football must be one of the most boring sports and I wish they would stop making films about this folly.