THE BLIND SIDE: A DEEPER LOOK INTO OHER’S RISE TO THE TOP

By: Advanced Sports and Entertainment Journalism 

Picture credit: Imbd.com

Based on the 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, the story of Baltimore Ravens player Michael Oher came to life in late 2009 on the big screen, under the direction of John Lee Hancock and production of Alcon Entertainment. Released in November 2009, The Blind Side scored big at the box office generating over $250,000,000. This film features Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy, and Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy, adoptive parents of Michael Oher.  Playing Oher was Quinton Aaron, who was able to encapsulate the plot that was once portrayed in the book.

Michael Oher is homeless teenager that has a hard life at home as his mom had a drug addiction and his dad had committed suicide. His high school didn’t accept him because of his IQ and academic standards. He didn’t get good grades and didn’t really try to succeed at school. As the movie progressed, Michael was given a family and place to sleep.  Once he started playing football however, his life changed dramatically. Football pushed him to start studying and do better in school, start opening up more, standing up for himself, and to be happier. He started getting A’s and B’s in school again as football pushed him to get better grades. Lee Ann pushed him to work harder at football when she marched on the field and yelled at him to treat his team like his family. Ever since that moment, Michael was unstoppable on the football field. He got many college offers but ended up accepting Ole Miss and even after finding out Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy pushed him to choose Ole Miss, he eventually stayed there and eventually got drafted by the Baltimore Ravens playing there for eight seasons.

 The camera angles change in order to view  the reaction of characters in pivotal scenes. The shirt is a symbol because he wears a striped one while he is trying to find an identity and when he is accepted into the family he wears a plain shirt. The story of Oher is uplifting and inspiring because he had such a rough childhood but it shows the viewer how you can overcome and achieve tremendous goals. 

I would recommend this film, it was highly entertaining and it would be a good watch for everyone, not just those who love sports. This film teaches a valuable lesson on life - doing the common good even when it could be frowned upon. Although the film is not directly accurate, it gives a great understanding of what happened to Michael Oher and his story.