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| ‘Blindsight’s’ Himalayan climb is enlightening (B+) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Craig Outhier, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 21, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tibet is also the kind of place where two blind boys walking down the street can be heartlessly vilified by regular, everyday folks. “You deserve to eat your father’s corpse!” a sweet-looking old lady snarls at them. That’s one of the more sobering moments in “Blindsight,” an otherwise triumphant documentary about a daring expedition to lift six blind Tibetan teenagers out of their wretched, prejudice-stained hollows. At least, metaphorically. Director Lucy Walker, whose 2002 documentary “The Devil’s Playground” profiled Amish young adults as they tasted life in secular, sinful America, explores another misunderstood subculture: handicapped children in a land where poverty and superstition make the concept of “social services” seem as exotic as a space program. The blind are pariahs in Tibet. One of the teens profiled by Walker was simply abandoned by his father. Enter Sabriye Tenberken, a blind German social worker who, after getting rejected by the German equivalent of the Peace Corps, went to Tibet and founded the nonprofit Braille Without Borders. Tenberken’s students are an impressively bright bunch. Like once-parched castaways who stumble upon a case of wine that washed up on the beach, they seem almost tipsy. Looking to inspire her students, Tenberken writes to Erik Weihenmayer, a blind American mountain climber who achieved modest celebrity (including a Time magazine cover) in 2001 by becoming the first nonsighted person to climb Mount Everest. Weihenmayer’s musings on his handicap constitute some of the most intriguing passages in “Blindsight.” It wasn’t the darkness that scared him when he went blind as a teenager, but the specter of “being obsolete ... swept aside.” Together, Tenberken and Weihenmayer hatch the idea of leading six of Tenberken’s students to the 21,000-foot Himalayan peak of Lhakpa Ri; an ordeal that will yield much infighting among Weihenmayer’s support team, the expected high-altitude health issues, and some truly stunning images of the desolate Himalayan hinterland. “Blindsight” doesn’t possess the raw cinematic muscle of, say, the paraplegic rugby doc “Murderball,” but it does have a compelling conflict at its core: peak-climbing, goal-oriented Western industriousness vs. experience-oriented Eastern harmony. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey, a Buddhist might say. To fully appreciate “Blindsight,” you might need to believe it. REVIEW ‘Blindsight’ Cast: Erik Weihenmayer, Sabriye Tenberken, Tashi Pasang Behind the scenes: Directed by Lucy Walker Rated: PG (some thematic elements and mild profanity), 104 minutes — Grade: B+ Contact Craig Outhier by email, or phone (480) 898-5683 |
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