An amazing and Uplifting movie!

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2012)

The Blind Side is an uplifting movie based on a true story book by Michael Lewis called the Blind Side:Evolution of a Game. Michael Oher, played by Quinton Aaron, is a young black kid that grew up in the projects and was taken away from his drug addicted mother as a young boy. He has bounced around foster homes and, as we find him in the start of the movie, he is sleeping on a friends couch. When his friend gets him into a private school named Wingate because of his athletic ability he finds himself in strange surroundings. After his friend's girlfriend makes him kick Michael out he is taken in by Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy, an affluent white couple. With the help from the Tougy's, and a tutor Miss Sue, Michael starts to excel in his school work and on the field.
The movie does a wonderful job of not focusing just on the football action and puts more focus and effort into the background story of Michael Oher. We see the struggles that he must go through as a young black kid such as being taken away from his mother, not having a place to go home to, and basically being on his own with no resources. I also enjoyed the way Quinton Aaron portrayed Michael Oher. He was very quite which left some mysteriousness to his character. Without overplaying his role it keeps you wondering about him and what he's thinking. The scene where He and Leigh Anne are in the car and she ask him to tell her one thing about himself in which he tells her that he doesn't like being called big Mike. I think this is a breakthrough moment for the two of them and he starts feeling comfortable with her. This movie put me in mind of another great football movie, Remember the Titans where the black coach and players are cast into a predominantly white school and they have to find a way to coexist and get along with one another.
In the opening scenes we get an idea of what Michaels journey is going to be like as he rides in the back seat of a car and is watching the scenery go by. It starts out as they go through the projects with buildings being run down with roofs falling in and as they go along the neighborhoods slowly get nicer. When Michael and Steven walk up on the baskets of basket balls sitting open and not locked they are shocked that they are not locked up. Michael exclaims that white people are crazy. One aspect of the film that I found odd though was the fact that Steven and his father are in this opening scene's however after that they are dropped entirely from the film with no other mention of them. Another item of the movie I felt should have been visited more was showing how intelligent Michael really was. At one point he has a teacher exclaim to other teachers that he knows the material and he isn't stupid but we never see him show that side.
All together I throughly enjoyed the movie. I felt like it was a great feel good story that was told very well with out over doing the drama. Sandra Bullock does an amazing job and its her performance that really stands out to me. One of the greatest strengths of this movie is that you don't have to be a football fan to love it because its really not just a football movie it has a greater depth in its story than that.