This week finally broke the spree of this year's lackluster films. I actually saw three films in a row that are worth writing about. The Blind Side is one of them. The first thing you should know is that I'm not a huge fan of Christian films or films with Christians in them. Christian-produced films often feel sermonized and predictable, while secular films often rely on stock Christian characters. They usually feature one of a handful of stereotypes: the hypocrite, the do-gooder, the prude, the judgmental one, and of course the priest or pastor.

This film makes neither of these mistakes. It feels like a real movie with real characters... and by the way, the people happen to be Christian. Even better, the story is based on real people living life the way Christ really called his followers to live. That's enough to get my vote anyway. The story is based on the actions of the Tuohy family, who take into their home Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), the only black kid in an all-white Christian school in Tennessee. Michael, huge for his age, is admitted because the coach believes he will be a great asset to the football team, and, he argues, because it's the Christian thing to do. The Tuohy family comes on the scene when they discover that Michael has no place to live.

The rest of this review contains spoilers, so you have been warned!

The opening scene and monologue start the recurring theme that plays throughout the movie. Over footage of Lawrence Taylor sacking Joe Theismann in 1985, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) explains that the play had previously been defined by what the quarterback saw, but it was about to be defined by what he didn't see. Taylor's tackle crushes Theismann's leg and ends his career. She explains that the primary job of the left tackle is to protect the quarterback from what he doesn't see—thus the title, The Blind Side.

Throughout the rest of film, the Tuohy family and Michael Oher protect one another from things they don't see coming. TheTuohys help Michael get better grades so he can play, then teach him to play football, hire a tutor to help raise his GPA so he can get into college, and put him on a career path that changes his life. They protect him from all the pitfalls that would snare the average athlete, and the whole family gets involved. Michael does his share of blocks as well—locking Leigh Anne in her car in his old neighborhood, and punching the air bag so that it misses SJ (Jae Head) during a wreck. But they also protect one another from more subversive threats like fear, self-doubt, lack of trust, fear of abandonment, racism, and apathy.

Mrs. Tuohy says early in the film that Michael's presence is making more of a difference in her life than she is in his, but that's not the case by the end of the film. The Tuohy family helps Michael find his identity. The story begins with Michael only knowing who he is not. When Mrs. Tuohy asks him to tell her what she needs to know about him, he only tells her that he doesn't like being called Big Mike. When he first enters the Christian school, a teacher finds a poem entitled White Walls where he writes, "This is not Michael Oher." But as time passes, he discovers his identity in the simple things. A shopping trip with Mrs. Tuohy gives him the opportunity to pick clothes he likes; he later gets his own room and his first bed; the story of Ferdinand the bull reveals his gentle nature; and eventually, he outright asks for an identity in the form of a driver's license. He may not care about driving, but he does care about having a name.

Michael also learns to open his eyes. Even though like Ferdinand the Bull, he enjoys looking around him at the beauty of life (like the balloons that distract him from the game), he literally closes his eyes every time he has a flashback to his childhood. We find out in the end that his mother taught him that trick. She told him that when he opened his eyes, the past would be gone and he could believe that the world is a good place. Although that may be good advice for helping a kid look on the bright side, it's not useful when things really go wrong for him and he must move forward through trials.

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