It was based on the true story of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy who take in a homeless teenage African-American, Michael “Big Mike” Oher. Michael has no idea who his father is and his mother is a drug addict. Michael has had little formal education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne soon takes charge however, as is her nature, ensuring that the young man has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes all out to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael’s skills.
They not only provide him with a loving home, but hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft. Seventeen year old Michael Oher, an extremely large, physically imposing black youth, grew up in the projects in Memphis. He no longer lives with his drug addicted mother, but is in foster care when he isn’t running away to sleep wherever else he can find.
Out of circumstances including Coach Burt Cotton’s belief that he would be an asset to the school’s football program based solely on his size and seeing him move, Michael is accepted into Wingate Christian School – an exclusive private school – despite his abysmal 0. 6 GPA. After Michael starts attending classes at Wingate, most of his teachers believe he is unteachable, except his science teacher, Mrs. Boswell, who begins to understand that he learns in a different way. Believing he is indeed homeless, Caucasian and staunch Republican Leigh Anne Tuohy – mother of Wingate students, teen Collins Tuohy and adolescent S.
J. Tuohy, and wife to Sean Tuohy, franchise owner of several Taco Bells – invites Michael to stay in the Tuohy’s upscale home for the night. But that one night slowly extends itself both in terms of time and emotion as the Tuohys’ begin to treat Michael like one of the family and vice versa. Part of that emotional investment for Leigh Anne fully understands Michael as a person so that he can fulfill his potential as a human being, which includes giving him opportunities such as what Coach Cotton initially saw in Michael as a potential left tackle.
Potential problems include Michael’s poor academic standing which may prohibit him from participating in extracurricular activities at the school, his learning disability which may extend to other aspects of his life beyond his schooling, whether he actually can play football, and authorities questioning Leigh Anne and all the Tuohy’s motivations in inviting Michael into their home and family. A poor, oversized and under-educated teenager is recruited by a major college football program where he is groomed into an athletically and academically successful NFL prospect.
The Blind Side” depicts the story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.
Groups Reflection about the Movie: This one is a true story of a black boy which is Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) – a homeless, no family and uneducated whose father was murdered and his mother was a crack addict was then adopted by a rich family which is the Tuohys’’. Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) was the head of the family, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) was the mother of two children SJ and Collins. This family was known, rich and a happy one. They are all engaged in sports and support each other’s endeavors and loves football!
Leigh Anne was the first to see the needs of Michael Oher and adjusted to that needs, and eventually by the goodness of her heart and sympathy of what Michael’s life was before she decided to convince her husband to adopt Michael. They sent him to Wingate Christian School for secondary education but he felt discriminated by his schoolmates and even his teachers. But because of Mrs. Tuohy’s kindness, courage and positive attitude, she never gave up on Michael.
She treated him as her real son and made him join the School’s football team which they discovered that he has extraordinary athletic skills. Her encouragement and love for Michael made him realized that he can be a better person and learned the game of football and later became a star player and he was offered by different state colleges for college scholarship. It is a tropical movie that not many of us can make such kind of decision on deciding to adopt a stranger in our family.
We admire how Mrs. Tuohy’s kindness, and there was a seen in the movie when one of her rich friends told her that what she’s going was great and she was changing that boy’s life, but she replied: “No, He’s changing mine…” From that seen, we realized that she has a good positive attitude that few people have. It’s true that she was changing his life, but she doesn’t see that, what she sees is how Michael changed their lives. We can see her humbleness, trust and love as a mother and a Christian.
On Michael’s Side, we thought that he was brave and hopeful because not many of us can turn a bad experience into a positive one and use it as an advantage to be successful in life. Instead of becoming a rebellious person because of his past experiences, he wanted to change and make a difference of his past life. There is no one to decide for us but ourselves, our parents or family members can support us and help us but still in the end we are on our own journey into our lives.
We are the drivers of our present and future lives, what we are now is what we are going to be in the future, but it must be better. Like what Michael did, because of the Tuohy family’s love and full support, he proved himself to his teachers and other people that he can be different from what they are expecting. The movie also shows that up to what point the parents can decide about their children. It was when Michael was to pick from which College he will be joining.
Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy and also his tutor, Mrs. Sue all went to College of Mississippi and they all wish that Michael will also be there, but Michael wants to be in Tennessee. There was an investigation that the Family and the College of Mississippi planned on adopting Michael because of his athletic ability, but they were wrong and he finally made his decision to join Mississippi. His reason for that, because my family went there…
We have watched this movie many times, and many times again it made us cry and smile, we choose this movie because it gave a lot of inspirations, hopes, values and lessons to its viewers that. Young and old people who view it can follow Michael and Tuohy Family’s example. We came to understand that it was entitled “The Blind Side” because in all aspects of our lives we have good and bad situations and in those situations we have people surrounding us, especially those people who we call family.
Our blind side is the things or events that we couldn’t see or it is on our back that’s why we don’t see it. If you will relate it in the story, Michael has his blind side but because of the Tuohy family he does not need to worry because they have his back. While in the football game, the quarterback if we are not mistaken by the position must be protected by the offensive and defense of the team to complete a goal, and that was the job of Michael Oher in his team. It also makes a wonderful twist on how a football game and a family are related.
