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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Missiologically Helpful Film: Blindsight, January 16, 2009
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch a documentary film called Blindsight. This is a story about six blind Tibetan teenagers (and their Western guides) who attempt to climb the 23,000 ft Lhakpa Ri - that's right next door to Mt. Everest in the Himalayas. And, overall, I found the film to be compelling, entertaining, moving, and thought-provoking. My attention was definitely locked in from the first scene and I was certainly moved by the story of these courageous teens. So, it's a very watchable movie, and I think you've got to start there.
Now let's talk missiology. There are a couple of missiologically significant themes in the film that are worth mentioning here. The first has to do with how Tibetan society deals with issues related to physical disability. Blindsight portrays these blind teens as outcasts from a Tibetan society that provides an explanation for their disability that blends Buddhist and folk religious ideas. Both thaumaturgical (e.g. evil spirits) and karmic (i.e. bad deeds done in past lives being punished in this life) are blamed for their blindness, resulting in a stigma that forces the children to the lowest places in the community. I was especially shocked to hear one Tibetan woman curse two of the boys by saying, "You aren't worthy to eat your father's corpse!" If I had a nickel . . .
A second missiologically significant theme is hinted at on the back of the DVD case in a quote attributed to Entertainment Weekly that mentions the "importance of journey versus destination." I think that in this regard the film does a good job of highlighting the U.S. American emphasis on accomplishment and finishing (represented well by the perspectives and attitudes of the American guides) over against an emphasis on journey. There is one memorable voiceover in which Sabriye Tenberken (the German woman who started the blind school in Lhasa where all the teens lived and studied), talks about how some of the kids had told her that they wished the climb hadn't been so rushed. They felt that there wasn't enough time to smell and feel and listen or to sing songs and tell stories to each other. This is a great example of the difference between monochronic and polychronic values - the Americans pushing the team on and on each day with specific goals and deadlines; the Tibetans wishing to sit awhile and listen to sound of the yak bells or entertain each other with stories. Well, I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't go into any more details about how this theme is developed in the movie.
My biggest criticism of Blindsight was how the film gradually became too focused (in my opinion) on the Westerners and especially on the conflicts they were having with each other along the way. There is value here, of course, as it allows us to see how unconsciously Westerners can assume a dominant position vis-à-vis non-Westerners. It was particularly interesting to watch what seemed to be team meetings being conducted during which only the Westerners were talking, debating, and deciding. At one point an American guide said, "Well, finally I feel like we're communicating." This is in a tent full of Westerners and Tibetans, but what he meant was that the Germans and the Americans were "finally communicating." I guess I just wished that the filmmakers would have gotten more interviews and voiceovers with the teenagers, so I wouldn't have to guess so much at how they were processing the experience.
So . . . this is a good, compelling, moving and inspiring film that makes just good movie-watching on the one hand, but also provides rich fodder for missiological reflection and discussion on the other. I especially recommend it for use in classroom and training settings. People working in a folk religious or Tibetan context will find this particularly interesting as will those working cross-culturally among people with disabilities.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
five stars of ragged hope, February 12, 2009
I will not disagree with the previous reviewers about how this film could be improved: there are some odd editing decisions, and - as the previous reviews have noted - various faults: yes, we would like to hear more from the children, and less from the adults.
But these faults may simply be the film's honest exposure of the faults in the underlying story and people: two groups of people that have never met before plan to climb a Himalayan mountain with blind children. While planning and communication in advance can avoid some problems, the real tests will come at altitude.
Whatever the film's faults - and I do not include the open questions that still niggle at me afterwards - this film has moved me like no other in years: at every turn, we see people struggling not just back to their feet after huge blows, but to the roof of the world. We also see the thousand small ways in which, over the years, they have been helped to get to this point. As a result of watching this film, I know that more is possible - and hope that I too might find my Lhakpa Ri. Thank you for reminding me to see.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
NOT YOUR TYPICAL EVEREST STORY; BEING A JERK IS WORSE THAN BEING BLIND, June 23, 2009
I liked this documentary but it ticked me off. It's about an Everest expedition for six blind children--calling attention to how blind kids in Tibet are despised by their own families and have no future--"better off dead" as one parent put it. The children are exploited in the film, but the film reveals human character in surprising (and infuriating) ways. The leader and ostensible hero of the expedition is Erik Weihenmayer, who summitted Everest proper (the kids attempt a different peak--no deadly ladders over crevasses or technical climbing). Unlike the Tibetan kids, Erik had a family who encouraged him as a climber and he had a lifetime of climbing behind him. The "grand epic" of a blind American leading blind Tibetan kids to show them that they can be successful in life is just a conceit. The real inspiration is found in the backstories, not Erik's trip up the "real Everest" nor the role he played in this expedition. Not to dish on Erik--I think his heart was in the right place--he's just not the hero in this film--Sabriye Tenberken is. She's the lady who built the school for the blind in Tibet in the first place and saved the expedition from disaster.
I liked this film because it exposes some of the controversies going on in high-altitude climbing: making it to the summit at all costs, even at the expense of human life, guiding climbers who are not conditioned, and using successful summit climbs as a "statement" of what one can do in spite of disability--there is vanity even in that: being the first (insert uniqueness here) to summit Everest. The real disability in this movie is being a vain jerk. That's "blindsight," eh? It also made me angry that the film egregiously excludes the Sherpa guides who were doing all the heavy lifting for the team--they were totally invisible--in fact, they were visually replaced with YAKS. Most climbers can't summit unless someone hauls their stuff, builds their camps and prepares their meals--yaks don't do that.
For these kids who endured cruel childhoods, having fun and doing something difficult as a "blind team" WAS the statement. Not getting hauled up by seeing-eye dudes to the tippy-top, who were getting hauled up themselves by Sherpa guides. It also made me SO MAD when the guides--in their vanity and determination to summit--crushed two little girls' hearts and egos completely when they were told they were going to be sent down the mountain while everyone else would summit. Erik and the other guides seemed disappointed that they didn't summit. I also noticed that the guides hogged the banner in the photo taken back at base camp while the kids struggled to get in the picture over their shoulders. Oh yeah, not to be a spoiler, but on the day of the summit bid, it turned bitterly cold--those kids probably would have come down without noses, fingers and toes in addition to having no eyesight if the guides had their way.
The story that these despised blind kids could get near "the death zone" of the Himalayas and FEEL it in a way no alpinist could relate to, go on to have productive lives--that's uplifting. The fact that the entire team came down safe--and had a successful expedition as defined by sticking together as a team, not singling out the weak from the strong (would that not EXACTLY recapitulate what Tibetan culture is doing to these kids??)--shows the triumph of Sabriye's concern for the team over the ridiculous machismo expected by the guides, who were seriously endangering the kids and hurting their egos...I cringed at every misstep. But in a few scenes, the kids poked fun at the guides' constant inquiries about their headaches and tiredness which showed that the children knew full well that they were being patronized. But Sabriye--that lady has SOME HEART. The kids she taught turned out heroes themselves for reasons other than climbing...I won't spoil that...
Not your typical Everest story. Ethics, safety, and compassion for the weak. Climbers take notice.
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