The Blind Side – 2009
I enjoyed this movie much more than I thought I would. Before going into it, I assumed it was a sports movie. Rich white woman takes a poor black guy under her wing and inspires him to excel on the football field. Something happens and he loses confidence right before the big game, but just when the game seems lost, he triumphs over his demons and wins. That is what I thought I would be watching. Thank goodness I was wrong.
The football is secondary to the plot. The movie is about several things. One is the journey of the poor black kid, another is the developing relationship between the woman and the boy. Another is the idea that if a child is never pushed to do well in school, the bad grades might not be an accurate reflection of the youth’s intelligence. And whose fault is it anyway? Is it the kid, or the parents and teachers who wrote the youngster off as dumb?
This movie is based on the true story of Michael Oher, played by Quinton Aaron, a young black man who happens to be a natural-born offensive tackle. By the time he is old enough to play college football, he has coasted through school without ever learning anything. His teachers would constantly give him the minimum passing grade just to get him out of their class. When his father dies and his crack-whore mother disappears, Michael becomes homeless.
In steps Leigh Ann Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock. She is the wife of Sean, played by Tim McGraw, a very wealthy businessman. They have two beautiful children, Collins and S.J, played by Lily Collins and Jae Head. Leigh Ann is also a devout Christian with a caring nature. When she sees Michael wandering the streets alone in the cold, she takes pity on him and invites him to sleep on her couch. Fortunately, the rest of the family instantly grows attached to him as well.
A relationship develops between Leigh Ann and Michael. She invites him to stay with them and even gives him his own room in the house. Even further, she eventually becomes his legal guardian. At the same time, Michael’s grades improve in school, and because of his size, the Touhy family encourage him to join the football team, even though he has never played the game in his life. He doesn’t know the first thing about the sport. But he learns, slowly at first, but with encouragement and training from the Touhys, he takes to it like a fish to water. One of the most fun parts of the movie was when little S.J. sends a video of Michael dominating a football field to college recruiters. They see him and recognize his natural talent. After that, they are falling all over themselves to lure him to play ball at their colleges, sending head coaches to the Touhy house to make him their best offers.
The only thing in his way are his scholastic grades which have never been important to him. In order to be accepted into any college, he has to get a better GPA. Leigh Ann hires Miss Sue, a private tutor, played by Kathy Bates. With enough personal attention, Michael gets the grades he needs and accepts the offer from Sean and Leigh Ann’s alma mater, Ole Miss. But then an investigator is sent from the NCAA to determine if the Touhy family adopted him just so he could play for Ole Miss, which brings into question Leigh Ann’s moral ethics. The investigation makes Michael doubt her motives for ever taking him in in the first place. The issue might be a problem as it might be the start of a trend of white families adopting inner city kids for the sole purpose of boosting their alma mater’s football teams.
And to the film’s credit, the character of Leigh Ann questions herself, asking if she did the right thing for the right reasons. And in this conflict, an unanswered question that I mistook for a plot hole was addressed. The Touhy family pushed him to be a football player without ever asking him what he wanted, a fact that was not lost on me. Finally, during a break in the NCAA investigation, Leigh Ann asks Michael what had been on my mind for half the movie. Did he even wants to play football? Nobody had ever bothered to ask.
Now I have to make special mention of two things I really liked about the movie. The first is Michael’s emotional essay on the nature of courage, inspired by Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. It is really the testament to Michael’s efforts to improve his grades. Second is the character of Sean Touhy. Sure, Bullock was great, and the one who took home the Best Actress Oscar for the movie, but it was Tim McGraw who really created a character who I fell in love with. He was handsome, charming, intelligent, calm, and good natured. He was a good husband, a wonderful parent, and a solid father figure to Michael. Characters like that always impress me. Good writing and good acting. Well done everyone!