Tuesday 6 April 2010

The Blind Side - Cineworld - 6/4/10

Leigh Anne Tuohy.

Republican.

Evangelical Christian.

Interior designer.

Big hair.

American "football" fan.

Former cheerleader.

A woman who "does" lunch.

What I'm saying is that this is the type of women I should loathe!

I believe in a womans right to choose.

I support gay marriage.

I lost my faith a long time ago.

The type of girl who would "cheer" is the type of girl who would never have shown any interest in my acne ridden face as an adolescent.

I have nothing in common with Leigh Anne Tuohy.

This story of how she took a homeless African American into her home and her family, supported him through high school and fostered his athletic talent is the type of story that normally has me running for the toilet in order to throw up.

It's mainstream, Oscar friendly, schmaltz of the worse sort.

That might make what I'm about to say a bit of surprise.

I LOVE LEIGH ANNE TUOHY.

I cried tears of genuine emotion on more than one occasion throughout "The Blind Side" and by its end I wanted to book a flight to the States and embark on a pilgrimage to find Tuohy and pledge my undying love and devotion to her.

Much was made about "The Blind Side" being a piece of Republican propaganda and pro-Palin preaching given the similarities between the two women. That should have been enough to stop me from even going to see this film...but I went and I'm really glad I did. Oh, that hurts to type. In truth this isn't a propaganda piece and the similarities between Tuohy and Palin are cosmetic, instead this is a heartwarming story of one families ability to reach out to someone in need. It's that simple and it's that complicated.

The importance of Tuohys religion is only given import by commentators with an agenda I would wager. There are films with more sinister and overt religious messages ("Knowing", "Battlefield Earth" being just two examples) that are offensive to people of faith and non-believers alike. "The Blind Side" isn't one of them. This is about doing something nice for no other reason than it's the "right" thing to do.

The world would be a better place with more people like Touhy and her family...I'm pretty sure they are far from perfect and that they have made as many mistakes as the rest of us but that doesn't detract from the significance of what they did for Michael Oher. Their faith is insignificant to the story...their are Jews, Muslims, Atheists and who knows whatists who do similar things every day.

Oher went on to become an American "football" star...but this story isn't about him. This is the story of Tuohy. Her charity, love and kindness are inspirational. I think I'm starting to gush and ramble here...that is only due in part to the story, the rest of my gushy rambling is because Tuohy was played by Sandra Bullock and I love Sandra Bullock too.

Oh, this whole review is going to have to be deleted before anyone reads it.

I'm giving this 24 hours and then I'm replacing it with a scathing attack on the film and the Tuohy family!

2 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree with you more about the "Blind Side". It was heartwarming in a good way. I honestly went away from the moving wanting to reach out to more people the way that Leigh Anne Tuohy did. She was inspirational. Loved your review of the film. Hope you are doing good my old friend.

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  2. Hullo Palmer! Thanks for reading!

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