Michael Oher, in Ole Miss uniform, with Tuohys

Author Michael Lewis’ non-fiction book “The Blind Side”, about the improbable cultural rise of the Baltimore Ravens’ 2009 first round draft pick Michael Oher, is currently being made into a full-length feature film starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, and Quinton Aaron as Oher. Director John Lee Hancock (The Rookie), who also wrote the adapted screenplay, has expressed his immense enthusiasm for the project because it is, as he calls it, “a different kind of sports movie.”

In an article in The Baltimore Sun, movie reviewer/columnist Michael Sragow reports on the atypicality of the story’s construction and characters. Oher, who due to an extreme prorogation of social and intellectual development, endured many hardships while living on the streets of Memphis, TN, homeless. The Tuohys, an evangelical couple who took in Oher and helped nurture him to such success that he was able to earn his way into college, play the role seemingly equivalent to that of Annie Sullivan (the famous teacher of Helen Keller). It is the subject of football that the Tuohys use to help foster Oher, and it is this bizarre method where the film’s ties to the sports movie genre finally become evident.

Unlike some other sports movies, such as last year’s The Express based on the accomplishments of football legend Ernie Davis, The Blind Side is not focused on ultimately teaching the cost of individual sacrifice for the success of the team. What its focus instead appears to be is much more broad, but by way of being narrow. By focusing almost strictly on the development of Michael Oher as a person, and how it would not have been possible without the charity of the Tuohys, The Blind Side is not just a sports movie but a story about the blossoming of hidden, human potential.

The sports aspect of the story is integrated using various inclusions diagramming and documenting the particularities of the game of American football, such as Bill Walsh’s west coast passing offense of the 1980s, juxtaposing the development of the game itself with Oher’s journey to provide a poignant allegory.

Michael Sragow’s article, which goes into much further detail, provides very interesting information on the film, including first-hand remarks from director Hancock, and is definitely worth a read. You can view the entire article via the link below.

The Baltimore Sun

The Blind Side is scheduled for wide-release November 20th.

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