Name- D.M.H.T Dasanayake, No- ENG/14/081, 3rd Semester

Assignment 2 - Review of the movie “THE BLIND SIDE”

“The Blind side” is an Oscar winning film which is conveys, how true love of a

mother changes the character of a person. Director of this film perfectly showed it by

presenting a football player and a rich woman who adopted this football player. The main

character of this movie is a football player known as Michael Oher. People called him as

“Big Mike” and “big black bear” in the past because of his giant body size.

At the beginning of this movie director tried to pop up the mental situation of this

black American boy using his habitual actions in the school, playing area, streets etc. All the

teachers neglect him because of his uneven actions, but one of the kindest teacher finds that

he has a talent and he is not using it properly. One day when he walks lonely on the street in a

rainy day the 2nd main character of this movie meet him accidently. She is a lovely, eye

catching woman who was a former cheerleader known as Leigh Anne Tuohy. When she is

riding along the street by her luxury car with her family. She meets this boy and her warm

heart feels something about this big black giant and starts to talk with him. However this

conversation ends up, after taking this aimless orphaned boy under her wings.

She uses her talents to balance his easy going millionaire husband (Sean), to board

mike in their house. Within this movie she acts as an outspoken, kind, warm hearted but

tough, multitasking woman who always tries to achieve her goals. Her two children also

accept this black bear as his brother because of his chubby appearance and gentle personality.

With the time, this black boy enters into her heart as well as other family members’ hearts

and makes him as a family member.

Her cute, pretty, cheerleading daughter (Collins) is a mirror image of her mother from

the appearance as well as qualities and Anne’s mischievous son (S.J.) also does a huge job to

make him happy as well as keep him connected to their family. It perfectly shows when they

were praying before eating in the 1st part of the movie. However, because of this new family,

mike’s study level also improves to a certain level.

I think the reason for his downfall is his bad memories about his real mother, which

pops up time to time when he is in a critical situation. His mother is a drug addicted woman

who really has no idea of his father’s details, but Anne always helps mike to build his

personality. She buys clothes to mike, gives him his 1st bedroom, includes him in their

Christmas photo, makes him join to the football team, finally hires a full-time teacher to give

him the academic grades that would ensure a football scholarship to one of the top

universities eager to recruit him and buys him a car. This new car changes him to a real

football player.

According to his reports his teachers show that he is 98% talented in “protective

instinct”. He proves it when he is driving his car with S.J. He meets with an accident then he

uses his talent to protect S.J. from the air bag strike. After that incident, Anne got an idea

about his talent and she uses it to motivate him in football practices. She walks very

gorgeously to the football practicing field and slaps the coach’s butt and says to Mike, “Team

is your family Micheal, You have to protect them from those guys” this actually shows that

how this woman motivates their son when he needs proper advice. So she is a representative

figure of a perfect mother. I think that is the turning point of his life as at the end, he

gradually becomes a perfect defender for his team.

Almost the only hiccup along the way is when a black female investigator from the

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) questions whether the family has taken up

Mike's cause in order to help their alma mater, the University of Mississippi, where Sean was

once a basketball star and Leigh Anne a cheerleader. Then he feels disappointed about it and

goes to his hometown to meet his real mother but unfortunately he makes problems with his

ex-friends. At the end, he feels the truth and goes to Anne’s hands again. Later he selects the

University of Mississippi and becomes the best NFL player and represents the national team.

Along the way, Anne never makes a wrong or unsteady move. She wins over Mike’s

mother, shutting people’s mouth when they started to disrespect Mike during the match,

makes a shame on the members of her luncheon group, putting the fear of god into Mike’s

menacing ex-friends from the hood, advises the football coach and takes over his job, giving

a lesson to the teachers, instructed Mike in necessary violence when in protection of the

family and raises her kids to be kind and patient. She never restricts her children’s freedom,

but she expects some self-control and discipline in their relevant ages. Best example is when

Mike enters to the university she advices and warns him: “if you ever make a girl pregnant

I’ll drive straight down there and cuts your penis off”.

From all of these things make the story unique. My personal idea of this film is, this is

not just about a rich woman being charitable to a poor boy or the rise of an unlikely athlete;

it’s about the transformation of a family. She subtly but forcefully drives The Blind Side and

infuses it with a depth and charm, making it a truly inspiring film.