Opening

72% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
21% The Hangover Part III May 23
63% Epic May 24
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85% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
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17% A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24

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Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
93% The Kings of Summer May 31
90% The East May 31
Blindsight

Blindsight (2008)

tomatometer

98

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 48 | Rotten: 1

A powerful glimpse of the possibilities for transcendence in straightforward documentary filmmaking -- and extreme physical disability.

94

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 1

A powerful glimpse of the possibilities for transcendence in straightforward documentary filmmaking -- and extreme physical disability.

audience

79

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 950

My Rating

Movie Info

Erik Weihenmayer is an athlete and climbing enthusiast who, in the spring of 2001, scaled the summit of Mount Everest. This would be a notable accomplishment for anyone, but Weihenmayer was different from those who had reached Everest's peak before him -- he's been blind since the age of thirteen. Weihenmayer's remarkable story came to the attention of Sabriye Tenberken, an educator who teaches blind teenagers in Lhasa, Tibet. In Tibetan culture, blindness is considered by many to be a curse,

Jan 13, 2009

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All Critics (49) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (1)

Blindsight is a great example of the emotional dividends that careful photography, sensitive editing and an atmospheric score can deliver.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Coying and manipulative.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Watching it, you feel almost as much a winner as the kids themselves.

May 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Walker captures all the dreamy-scary beauty of Everest's upper reaches, as well as numerous mini-dramas about the kids' readiness to approach the summit.

April 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

April 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

January 6, 2012 Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews
Matt's Movie Reviews

memorable portrait of some truly courageous individuals and previously unrevealed insights to Tibetan culture

April 25, 2009 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews

An important, heart-soaring record of a group of incredibly brave people doing something almost everyone would tell them is impossible.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall
Shadows on the Wall

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.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: This is London
This is London

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.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Independent

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.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Financial Times
Financial Times

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.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Total Film
Total Film

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.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Sky Movies
Sky Movies

Lucy Walker's documentary is genuinely stirring.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph

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.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]
Guardian [UK]

A strikingly photographed documentary that unfolds into a story of human achievement and a study of the East-West culture clash.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Times [UK]
Times [UK]

An accomplished work from documentarian Walker, who uses her battle-against-the odds story to illuminate how Tibetan society mistreats its blind citizens.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Uplifting but never mawkish, and gorgeously shot.

July 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

An amazing no-frills inspirational documentary shot with deep feeling and conviction by Lucy Walker.

June 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A blind man climbs to the top of Mount Everest in Blindsight, and that's just the beginning of the drama.

May 9, 2008 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Walker's film is a sure tearjerker, but the sentiments aren't cheap.

April 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Oregonian
Oregonian

Audience Reviews for Blindsight

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
flixsterman
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. .
May 17, 2009
lesleyanorton
Lesley N

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Blind Sight (UK)
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