Day Seventy-Nine: The Blind Side

THE BLIND SIDE

Starring:
-Sandra Bullock
-Tim McGraw
-Quinton Aaron
-Kathy Bates

Written & Directed by: John Lee Hancock

MPAA Rating: PG-13


When this movie was first released and everybody and their mama started going wild over it, I admit to having certain reservations. I believe my exact words were, “Oh great…another inspirational football film.” Quite frankly, I think we’ve got about twelve too many, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear of another one joining its ranks.

I was especially alarmed when I heard how all the Christians were going wild for this film. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a Christian and a lover of the arts. I have seen the type of movies that my Christian counterparts tend to go wild over, and most of them include Kirk Cameron and are so disgustingly sappy that you run the risk of falling into a diabetic coma. It’s a major pet peeve of mine, these “Christian-approved” films, skits, or TV shows that are just poor quality, or mediocre at best.

But when I actually saw THE BLIND SIDE, I had reason to rejoice. This movie has elements of the stereotypical inspiration football movie, and elements of the vomit-inducing “Christian values,” but it can be categorized by neither of them.

It’s interesting to me that while we see this family pray and make moral choices, we never see them in a church service. I think this is because we don’t have to. We don’t have to know which affiliation or denomination this family considers itself. We don’t have to know because we can see Christ through their example. Because of their lives, we know they share His love.

Morality aside, the film is extremely well made. The screenwriter made good use of the repeating device, in which a line from the beginning of the film is mirrored toward the end, spoken by a different character or delivered in a slightly different context.

Scenes were fluid and transitioned seamlessly from the school, to the field, to the Tuohy’s home, to the scary streets of Memphis’ Hurt Village.

I must admit I was somewhat drawn out of the film when Michael’s tutor Miss Sue (Bates) uttered the line, “Do you trust me, Michael?”

Immediately and without thinking I blurted out, “Not after I saw what you did to James Caan’s feet.”

The people I was watching the movie with all laughed, but I was being totally serious. Kathy Bates is a scary lady.

Despite this, I enjoyed the movie and plan on watching it again in the very near future, just because it made me feel so darn good to be a member of the human race.

There are good people out there who want to do the right thing, and love others, and live for Christ. They are strong in their faith, but they don’t shove belief down your throat. Instead they lead by their lives and the Christian example they set. It is my firm belief that God has worked and continues to work through the Tuohy family to give us all an example of pure, self-sacrificing love.

It’s clear to me why Sandra Bullock received her Academy award. In closing, I hope she whacks her philandering husband over the head with it two or three times. And I say that in Christian love.


FINAL GRADE: A+

Off in search of a Taco Bell,

M.