Mother in football film personifies grace
"Real life. Real Drama. Real TV." So ran the tagline for TSN, Canada's sports network for a number of years. The connection between real life, drama and sports, however, has not been limited to the small screen. Filmmakers in general, and Hollywood in particular, have successfully mined that vein over the years. Historically, one only has to think of The Pride of the Yankees (1942—Lou Gehrig's story), Brian's Song (1971) or Chariots of Fire (1981).
This year moviegoers encountered a trio of high quality sports-themed films inspired by real people: Invictus, the South African rugby saga linked to Nelson Mandela; The Damned United, a brilliant football (read soccer) flick with a character study in ambition; and the highly anticipated DVD release of The Blind Side, written and directed by John Lee Hancock. A whole new audience will have access to this blockbuster that has earned in excess of a quarter billion dollars from box office revenues alone. Sandra Bullock's recent Oscar win for Best Actress will only boost its popularity.
Bullock earns her stripes in this film. Despite her reputation for type casting in romantic comedies, she hasn't altogether hidden her dramatic capabilities. In Crash (2004) she played a convincing role as the victim of a carjacking. In The Blind Side, she portrays the true to life story of Leigh Anne Tuohy, a prominent Memphis woman who invites a homeless African American teenager, Michael Oher, into her home and, ultimately, her family.
Michael's development as a student and as a football player is set against the difficult circumstances from which he came. The film teeters, at times, on the edge of sentimentality, but Bullock's well-grounded performances and that of Tim McGraw, the well known country singer who plays her husband, always bring it back from the brink.
The film revolves around football—from the title and Michael's development as a premier scholarship prospect, to some unexpected controversy surrounding his recruitment. But what gives it legs is its subtle exploration of how one's religious faith can be enacted in practical ways.
Early in the film Michael Oher's football coach, comically played by Ray McKinnonis, advocates for Michael's enrolment at a well-heeled private Christian school. The coach argues that if the admissions committee won't register the poverty-stricken Michael, they might as well paint over the word "Christian" on the Wingate Christian Academy sign. Ultimately, it's the Tuohy family who walk the talk as they take Michael in and take a stance against racist attitudes throughout the film.
In one scene, Leigh Anne is called a "fine Christian woman" by another character, and her humble response is, "I do my best." Her best emerges in several places, not the least of which is a face to face encounter with Michael's drug-troubled mother. The dignity Tuohy invests in this woman with the touch of her hand is a fleeting moment in film time, but lingers long after in its personification of grace.
The greatest Christian truth explored in this film is found in the metaphor of adoption. It doesn't give away too much to reveal that Michael Oher is adopted into the Tuohy family. In a non-patronizing way, The Blind Side portrays Oher's adoption as a rescue from the chaos of extreme family instability and poverty, as well as the temptations of gang life and drugs.
I can't help but think that the underlying resonance of this film plays on the same note which has made Paul Young's novel, The Shack, such a huge best seller. Readers of The Shack glimpsed an unconventional trinity in which a father figure—similar in essence to the father in the parable of the prodigal son—is found to be waiting, welcoming and unconditionally loving.
We are all Michael Oher in some capacity, and the good news in a Christian context is that we've all been adopted into the family. The Blind Side reminds us how powerful it is to be loved and to belong.
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