Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Himalayas, "Blindsight" follows the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest. The dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge--made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind. Believed by many Tibetans to be possessed by demons, the children are shunned by their parents, scorned by their villages and rejected by society.
Rescued by Sabriye Tenberken, a blind educator and adventurer who established the first and only school for the blind in Tibet, the students invite the famous blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer to visit their school after learning about his conquest of Everest. Erik arrives in Lhasa and inspires Sabriye and her students Kyila, Sonam Bhumtso, Tashi, Gyenshen, Dachung and Tenzin to let him lead them higher than they have ever been before. The resulting three-week journey is beyond anything any of them could have predicted.
To see how these conflicts play out, to see how both sides came to realize that they had unexpected things to learn from these remarkable young people, is where Blindsight really makes its mark.
The film is often breathtakingly beautiful, and even as the students triumph over the naysayers, it's melancholy knowing they aren't sharing viewers' experiences of their starkly gorgeous world.
Blindsight is hugely affecting, the rare experience that will make those who watch it thankful for what they have, yet make them realize that they aren't nearly thankful enough.
Along with its strong emotional pull and engrossing personalities, Blindsight also features some breath taking images of the Himalayas, and some nerve wrecking scenes that would make those of us who are afraid of heights to start sweating bullets.
You wouldn't believe it as fiction but it really is fairly unadorned fact. It is easy to see awards beckoning, and deservedly so because Walker as a film-maker never puts herself in front of her extraordinary subjects.
How they managed the trek defies belief, but in an art-form where superpowers have become passé, it's a stirring reminder of what human powers, against the odds, can achieve.
Lucy Walker's documentary Blindsight is breathtaking twice over. It leaves the audience gasping like a landed guppy at views of snow-coddled Himalayan peaks under ice-blue skies.
The ascent reveals a fascinating clash of values between the more gung-ho Americans (who are determined to reach the top) and the youngsters' remarkable teacher Sabriye Tenberken.
Lucy Walker's inspirational, award-winning documentary, which leaves condescension and treacle out in the cold, emerging as one of the year's most illuminating, heartbreaking, and life-affirming movies.
Walker's ending is fudged both in terms of the narrative and the issues, and she seems to come down, a little feebly, on the "heartwarming" side of things. But what an amazing, and bizarre, story.
An accomplished work from documentarian Walker, who uses her battle-against-the odds story to illuminate how Tibetan society mistreats its blind citizens.
Inspirational documentary about the trials and tribulations of six blind Tibetan kids as they set out to climb Lhakpa Ri in the Himalayas. Emotional and uplifting.
January 27, 2009
Randy Tippy
Super Reviewer
I enjoyed this, but I think there was a more interesting documentary trying to get out . The childrens personailties were sketchy and the contrast between the western/"proper climbers" aim of reaching the summit v's the eastern/children and teachers purpose of exploration, inclusion and growing as a team was only
tentatively explored, The best bit was the coda saying what happened next. .
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