The Blind Side Movie Review: Thankfully, not the Mississippi Burning of Sports Movies.

Ill attempt to my best Dave Zirin impersonation here.

The night before Thanksgiving Katy and I saw The Blind Side.

I had been familiar with the story when I read this New York Times Magazine profile of Michael Oher a few years ago.   After reading the article I bought the book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.

The book was great but the posters for the movie version of The Blind Side looked horrible.  It seemed to me that this was going to be a sports movie version of Mississippi Burning .  Or might qualify for a recent blog post titled “The Five Most Unintentionally Racist Movies about Racism. Anyways, here is a nice summary of the criticism about Mississippi Burning:

[Missisippi Burning] been criticized by many, including historian Howard Zinn, for its fictionalization of history. According to Zinn: while FBI agents are portrayed as heroes who descend upon the town by the hundreds, in reality the FBI and the Justice Department only reluctantly protected civil rights workers and protesters and reportedly witnessed beatings without intervening.^[1] It was also criticized due to its portrayal of southern African-Americans as passive victims. The image of African-Americans as being passive also shapes the film’s reenactment of the assassinations;^[2] New York Times film reviewer wrote that the film’s alleged distortions amounted to a “cinematic lynching” of history.

See, The Blind Side takes place in Memphis and essentially a rich white woman comes to the rescue of a homeless black kid with an NFL body.  Hollywood could have very easily taken the very powerful story of Michael Oher and Leigh Anne Tuohy and turned into a Disnified, racial fantasy.

Never mind the fact that  Memphis might be one of the most racially polarized cities in the country and the place where Martin Luther kIng was assassinated. And the University of Missisippi?  It’s racial history is just as brutal. And “Ole Miss,”– the college’s nickname?  That is what slaves called the slave master’s wife.

Overall,  the book was better and the movie is far from being perfect.  The Border’s commercial that breaks out in the middle of the movie also might be the most annoying product placement I have ever experienced.

But still, the movie made me cry.  (The last time I cried in a movie might have been in Top Gun when Goose died.)

And I cried, I think, because I grew up around families like the Tuohy’s.  Rich. White. Christian. Republican.  I never once met someone from that background who would have opened the car door for a homeless black teenager, even if he had NFL tackle written all over his body.

And that is why I loved the movie–because if you are rich and white and powerful, it means nothing if you don’t open the door for others.

P.S. I also thought it was interesting that at the end of the movie when they were showing newspaper clippings of Michael Oher’s career the other story that appeared on the “newspaper” was about Darfur.  I think the movie producer’s were trying to make a point….

 

Filed under: Africa, movie review , Blind side, Borders, Darfur, Dave Zirin, evolution of a game, film, Howard Zinn, left tackle, martin luther king, Memphis, Michael Lewis, MIchael Oher, Mississippi Burning, movie review, movies about racism, nfl, Ole Miss, product placement, republican, Sandra Bulluck, slavery, The Blind Side, University of Missisippi, white

No more Sins By Silence. Stopping Domestic Violence in Indiana

Brenda Clubine; founder of Convicted Women Against Abus

The Indianapolis metro area has suffered through a horrible year for domestic violence.  Angela Warnock in Brownsburg.  Beth Stayer in Zionsville/Anson a week earlier. Just before Christmas, Yvonne Kretzer was murdered by her husband in Plainfield.  There were 65 deaths in Indiana last year attributed to domestic violence.  Every day 1000 people seek help from domestic violence in Indiana alone.

Last night at Lockerbie Central United Methodist and Earth House, we screened the documentary Sin By Silence and heard from filmmaker Olivia Klaus.  Most amazingly, Brenda Clubine was there.  She is featured in the documentary and it was her work and vision that created Convicted Women Against Abuse; an innmate support and advocacy group that transformed California’s Domestic Violence laws.

Brenda was serving seventeen years to life for defending herself against her abusive husband.  Last night was the 1 year anniversary of her release from prison.

There is so much to be said about the movie and last night’s gathering.  There were tears, standing ovations, and a commitment to make Indiana free of all violence.

Thank you so much for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence for  organizing this screening and bringing Ms. Clubine and Ms. Klaus to Indianapolis.

Filed under: Earth House, Thursday Night Film Festival, community, documentary, family life, film, film review, movie review, prison, prison justice, prison ministry, rememberances, united methodist , Indianapolis, Indiana, Earth House, lockerbie central, death, united methodist, documentary, zionsville, Brownsburg, violence, domestic violence, angela warnock, beth stayer, plainfield, anson, Yvonne Kretzer, Convicted Women Against Abuse, deaths, abuse, california, brenda clubine, sin by silence, olivia klaus, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

The Mercy House, Anderson, Indiana

I was up in Anderson, Indiana yesterday and stopped by The Mercy House.   I wasn’t sure if it was going to be open, but heard about this unique church during Shane Claiborne’s stop in Indianapolis last year as part of the Jesus for President Tour.

Anyways, if the rest of the country is in a recession, Anderson is in a depression.  Located a quick drive from thriving white-collar Indianapolis suburbs like Fishers and Noblesville, Anderson’s once strong industrial economy (home to more GM jobs than any other city, including Flint, Michigan), has been wrecked by the thirty year process of economic globalization.

Here is a New York Times article from this spring about Anderson that paints a more rosy picture about Anderson’s future, but the city that has lost tens of thousands of GM jobs and other factory jobs and has declined in population by 8.3% since 1970.  Check out the recent HBO documentary Dirty Driving: Thundercars of Indiana for a glimpse of post-industrial Anderson.

The Mercy House is located in the old Shadeland Elementary School on the westside of Anderson’s downtown. The Shadeland neighborhood is a historically African-American neighborhood, whose economic well-being was tied to the fortunes of GM.   The elementary school shout down about ten years ago and was sold to a church, who then turned the building over to the Mercy House.

Anyways, in this abandoned elementary school, Mercy House is a place of hope.  From the website:

For this reason, everything we plan, organize, participate in revolves around this idea of reconciliation: acts of unity, social justice, and relationships. We hope to continue to be a place of reconciliation for Anderson, challenging the church to take Jesus seriously and offering grace, mercy and love to the world around us.

I talked with Steve, who heads up the maintenance for the mammoth building.  He is a graduate of Anderson University and talked about how the Mercy House is making a difference.  Though virtually ignored by Anderson’s political structure and surrounded by over a dozen slowly dying churches, Mercy House has large and multi-cultural worship services.  In a city that sees more people move away every year, the success of Mercy House has attracted people to Anderson and more students from the university are staying because of what’s going on there.

What Steve said made a lot of sense.  People in Shadeland and Anderson are tired of outsiders coming in to town with big dreams, promising the world, and then leaving when things seem too tough.  After five years of being part of the community and a commitment to be there for the long haul, Mercy House might be post-industrial Anderson’s biggest asset.

Filed under: Indianapolis, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, bible, church, community, community organizing, documentary, emergent church, evangelism, film, film review, movie review, movie reviews, shane claiborne , Indianapolis, Indiana, shane claiborne, new york times, economy, General Motors, GM, Flint, Michigan, Anderson, IN, Fishers, Noblesville, The Mercy House, Mercy House, post-industrial, industrial economy, auto industry, Shadeland, Dirty Driving, Thunder Cars of Indiana, MI, African American, black, Shadeland Elementary, Anderson University, place