7/8/2023 0 Comments Cast of the blind side![]() Oher admitted to ESPN that he didn't like the film because of how it negatively affected his football career, attributing it to why he was "downgraded" so much. ![]() MPAA Rating: PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references.Ĭast: Sandra Bullock: Leigh Anne Touhy Tim McGraw: Sean Touhy Quinton Aaron: Michael Oher Kathy Bates: Miss Sue.Although The Blind Side was a commercial success that won over audiences, the real-life inspiration couldn't get behind the film. Here’s hoping that more of us will have the courage and conviction of Michael Oher and the Touhys, and that systemic inequality won’t remain on our blind side.Ĭliff Vaughn is managing editor and media producer for. However, it would be a missed opportunity simply to praise the Touhys (who did do the right thing) and overlook continued injustice related to race, poverty and education. My point is not to ruin with hypercriticism what is essentially a good movie. Part of the discussion is also about “white guilt,” which is not unrelated to injustice, of course. When folks criticize this kind of story – privileged whites intentionally providing disadvantaged blacks with opportunities for success – it seems that part of the criticism is directed toward the dearth of justice. “The Blind Side” is obviously a powerful story about the former. One’s moral evaluation of the story is caught between two poles: the truth of the religious proverb that says we save an entire world when we save one soul, and ancient scriptural imperatives to work for justice. But what to do with the fact that it really happened? If this tale were fictional, it would no doubt be characterized as paternalistic. One of the critical issues about “The Blind Side” for some will be what seems like the “paternalistic” nature of the story. In addition to Sandra Bullock’s winsome performance, fans of Southeastern Conference football will enjoy cameos by Phil Fulmer, Lou Holtz, Tommy Tuberville, Nick Saban, Houston Nutt and Ed Orgeron (not a single one of whom coaches where they did when this story took place just a few years ago). Until then, it remains in the background, forcing the viewer to wonder if it really even matters to the picture.īut the film actually opens with a sort of prologue about football – one that’s well done and a portent of good things to come, with the exception of a few overly scripted scenes regarding Leigh Anne’s motives. ![]() Not until the film’s second half does football really enter the narrative. Surprisingly perhaps, “The Blind Side” is only secondarily about sports. Michael winds up sleeping on the Touhy couch courtesy of Leigh Anne’s conscience, and lives change. Leigh Anne and Sean (Tim McGraw, in a good supporting role) have children at the school and are aware of Big Mike, but that’s where it stops. He has no friends and, as it turns out, no place to stay.Įnter Leigh Anne Touhy, played with perfect spunk by Sandra Bullock. Michael, or “Big Mike” as everyone calls him, is enrolled at the majority white school. “It’s the right thing to do,” the coach says, even if Michael’s presently horrific GPA means he can’t play football. In the satisfying film, based on the book “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game” by Michael Lewis, Michael gets into the school because the football coach persuades the administration to let him in. You can probably guess the ending, if you don’t already know. The Touhys gave Oher a room in their home and a tutor to help him after he was admitted to a private Christian school, originally on grounds that he’d make a terrific football player. Oher was a homeless African-American youth before being taken in by a wealthy white couple, Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy, in Memphis. The line exemplifies the sly humor and social reality of “The Blind Side,” a new film by John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) about the real-life story of Michael Oher. “Who would’ve thought we’d have a black son before we knew a Democrat?”
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