Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoThe Blind Side
March 3rd 2010 13:16
Of all the Best Picture nominees for the 2010 Oscars this would have to be the least deserving. It's not that the movie is poorly made or anything, it's just that it's such an underachieving, middle-of-the-road film - which is ironic considering the subject matter. The 'blind side' of the title refers to the lead defensive player in grid iron, his job being to protect the blind side of the team. The film itself concerns a big, disadvantaged black kid who gets taken in by a rich white family. Said family then helps black kid realise his potential as a talented, game-changing footballer. Inspirational true story ensues.
To some degree, I enjoyed watching this movie. It hits all it's Hollywood buttons in an emotionally engaging way and it was marginally interesting to watch Sandra Bullock doing a role that wasn't concerned with romance. But I just can't give it a pass because there's a lot about this film that feels objectionable - whether it be on an idealogical level or an artistic level. Firstly, the movie is supposed to be about Michael Oher (played by Quintin Aaron), this enigmatic black teenager with a traumatic past and unusually high protective instincts. For some reason, the film portrays him as a borderline retard with a savant-like aptitude for sports... this would be fine if it happened to be true, but I looked it up and the real life Michael Oher is anything but a retard and is unsurprisingly quite offended that the film portrayed him in such a fashion. The Blind Side also makes him virtually mute, and so the film becomes as much (if not more) about his guardian angel, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), a preppie, waspish soccer-mom with sasssy iron balls.
It's only a few days from now that the winners for the 2010 Oscars will be announced, and all indicators point towards Bullock taking out the Best Actress award. As much as this is the best work of her career, it is easily the least impressive work of the nominees. But, given that Hollywood is predominantly made up of rich white folk who like to make themselves feel better by grandstanding their charity work, it's quite easy to imagine why Bullock's character in The Blind Side would appeal to the Academy as much as it does. With this in mind, I can understand why she has been getting nominated for various awards ceremonies. What I can't understand is why the overall film is getting any kind of positive critical attention at all... on several occasions it blows well over into chirpy, Hallmark-territory and is way too saccharine for it's own good. The fact that a lot of the film's focus is put on the Tuohy family and their embracement of good Christian Ay-merican values makes the whole thing feel like a throwback to bad early 90s sitcoms where the audience is clubbed over the head with the heartfelt message-of-the-week. What's most unforgivable is the ongoing presence of S.J., the family's youngest member whose precociousness is so annoying that it's almost a relief when he's in a serious car accident. Unfortunately though, he comes out of this accident physically intact and mentally unaffected, and continued irritating the crap out of me for the rest of the film's running time.
If this film had been rightfully ignored by the Oscars (and also been tweaked a little more towards being realistic) it would've simply been a true feelgood story told well. It's even hard to dislike Bullock in such a heroic, Atticus Finch-like role, and I have to admit the film even had me crying a few times. I felt so manipulated by the time it ended, so let's just say it's very flawed by easily watched. If you're a fan of serious, critically-acclaimed dramas you will probably hate it, but your mum will probably love it so maybe you should take her to see it and score some points.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I'm ignoring the fact she is up for an Oscar
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
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