The Role That Won Sandra Bullock the Oscar
The Blind Side raises an interesting question in the midst of a very watchable film, which was inspired by the true story of football star Michael Oher, and based on the book by Michael Lewis. The question is, at what point does helping someone have a better future reflect more of the will of those giving than those who need help?
On the surface, the story is about football, but really it’s about Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) providing food, shelter, clothing, love and affection to Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron). In other words, it’s about family.
Upon seeing Leigh Anne in the first scenes of the film, we inevitably associate her with the stereotype of a typical upper middle-class American blonde from a model family, in control and blissfully unaware of the social problems that surround her. All of these characteristics fit Leigh Anne to a “T”, except the last.
Leigh Anne does not care what it takes, she just want things done her way. Imposing her will may, at first sight, seem to be synonymous with being a spoilt rich woman. However, behind her strong-willed behavior is the necessary determination to get out of this “perfect world” of a good house, a good husband and a good family and a superficial view of life, if only to the other side of town.
Leigh Anne’s life begins to change when she meets teenager Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), who grew up alone on a poor housing estate in Memphis, appropriately called Hurt Village. Michael lives as a homeless teen, walking in the cold in just shorts and a T-shirt. Upon learning that the boy goes to the same school as her two children, Leigh Anne doesn’t hesitate — she takes him home to spend the night at her house.
What starts as a single gesture of kindness rapidly evolves into something greater: Michael becomes part of the Tuohy family, despite the general weirdness that this seems to cause the neighbors.
The Blind Side is the opposite of the film Precious, in which a young semi-literate teenager, abused by her father and rejected by her mother, sees the tragedies in her life multiply throughout the film. In The Blind Side, written and directed by John Lee Hancock, all Michael’s tragedies have already happened. Throughout the film, the viewer enjoys the changes that reshape Michael’s life, who for the first time is to made to feel part of a family that will protect him with all its might.
It is not for nothing that Sandra Bullock’s performance in the film, and her way of getting what she wants the way she wants it, earned her the award for Best Actress at the Oscars, beating out names like Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren.
