Which side is the blind one?

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2009)

I went into The Blind Side knowing little about the film, and less about its back story. Color me surprised to learn that the film depicts 'a remarkable true story', because until the final credit crawl I was convinced I was watching a skillfully made racial fantasy designed to assuage some serious liberal white guilt. In fact, until the crawl I was convinced the film had seriously overdone matters: who could possibly believe not only that an upper-class white family would take in an impoverished African-American youngster, pay his way through private school, and even buy him a truck? Misgivings aside, The Blind Side is an emotionally satisfying drama featuring a bravura performance by Sandra Bullock as Mama Tuohy and an excellent script by director John Lee Hancock. Quinton Aaron isn't much of an actor (though I should probably watch Be Kind Rewind again before jumping to conclusions), but he brings a degree of mystery to the character of Michael Oher that offers intrigue for the first half of the film--intrigue that isn't very satisfactorily resolved by an awkward sub-plot involving his birth mother. I still think The Blind Side was mostly made to make white people feel good and virtuous--perhaps I need to read Michael Lewis' book to convince myself otherwise--but that doesn't mean it isn't a good film. If the story is true, then the worst it's done is humanize rich Republicans--and if it isn't, it still appeals to the better nature in all of us. If we all acted on the kindness exemplified in The Blind Side, the world might just be a little bit better.