Blind Side: my review
by SouthernFriedInfidel | Published on November 23rd, 2009, 8:55 am | Arts
Initially, we thought we were going to go and see another movie, but my on-line information for the Carousel theater was outdated, and it was gone. So we opted to try and check out "The Blind Side." I figured it would be yet another inspirational sports movie, in the mold of "Remember the Titans" or any of dozens of the genre.And honestly, much of it seemed rather formulaic. Big kid who doesn't fit in anywhere gets noticed by a high school coach, and starts playing football.. gets noticed by high-profile college teams, makes it to the NFL. And of course, the fact that it's "based on a true story" has its attraction... but you have to take such things with a grain of salt.
What seems rather remarkable about this movie's plot is the racial aspect of the thing. The big kid is a huge black guy living a drifting, slum-based life in Memphis. He gets recruited into a private Christian school by the school's coach and has a tough time academically, because he acts nearly catatonic most of the time.
Things turn around when a wealthy white woman (Sandra Bullock) take him in and starts to work on "rescuing" him.
The film's plot is rather predictable most of the rest of the way. No need to go into details here. But a few further points regarding the racial make-up of the film. The "tough streets" of Memphis gets a lot of play in the film. The locations they used may have been honest images of poverty, but the writing of the dialog seemed to me to be somewhat lazy. We had to wonder whether the film was written with black slang -- as imagined by white people.
At the end of the film, the real Michael Oher appeared in the film, along with the white family that adopted him... I had to wonder whether Mr. Oher had any input on the script, or if the writers only picked up the outline of the story he provided, and whipped up the script using a Hollywood rule book.
I must say that the acting overall was very good. Bullock handled her required Southern drawl very nicely at all times, though it did seem to fade and thicken perceptibly in a few scenes. Quinton Aaron, as Oher, was very believable as the introverted gentle giant type of guy, brought out of his shell in a nicely-plotted progression.
Overall, I'd say that "The Blind Side" was a nice enough film to go and see if nothing much else is on tap. But you really have to wonder what it does for race relations in the South...
