Blind sided?

I am not a Sandra Bullock fan, let me rephrase that.I am not a fan of her movies, I sat through The Proposal in a failed attempt at female bonding and despaired at its lack of originality or plot.

The Blind Side however sees her portray a NRA, Bible thumping, non swearing, super white republican soccer mom. Whats not to love?

Having tried to watch Precious, the over touted story of an overweight and illiterate teen struggling with poverty and incest in 1980's New York (which features a stunning performance from Maria Carey, in which she maintains the same facial expression for ever increasing lengths of time, obviously those lessons from Stephen Segal are paying off). I ended up powering through it with one finger on fast forward. So I had no high expectations for The Blind Side.

The story corners in on Michael Ore a semi illiterate and homeless young man with a troubled past, who by chance encounters the Touhys, a upper middle class well heeled couple with 2 children, a large house in the suburbs and little or no experience of how the other half live. By all accounts this film should have been schmaltzy, nice white folk look after poor coloured boy, triumph ensues....
But that's not what this film is, its a poignant and honest look at the difficulties and potential within so many kids who are passed from school to school or care worker to care worker in the ever increasing but continually underfunded social care sector. Bullock does a good job of playing the mom, with a level of snappiness and compassion unseen in previous roles, perhaps her agents will start finding her better films in future.
While the trailer makes it look like a sports movie, don't let that put you off, its far from it. Michael Ore says little throughout the film but speaks volumes in his presence, Quinton Aaron makes the role his own, his slowly developing trust and comfort within the family makes this film utterly enjoyable. This film is touching but never preachy, it doesn't pluck at heart strings so much as massage them, it reminds you why and where the kids with problems came from and why we are all responsible for them.


Recommendation: a film the whole family can watch that isn't made by Pixar!