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Blindsight

EMAILPRINTRobson Entertainment

Blindsight reviews
72
10.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Documentary

Written by:

Directed by: Lucy Walker

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 5, 2008

Running Time: 104 minutes, Color

Origin: UK

Language(s): Tibetan / German

Summary

RATING: PG for some thematic elements and mild language

Starring Erik Weihenmayer, Sabriye Tenberken, Sonam Bhumtso, Tashi Pasang, Gavin Attwood, Sally Berg, and Paul Kronenberg

A 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 school for the blind in Lhasa, 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. (Robson Entertainment)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Featuring exceptional people doing extraordinary things, Blindsight is one of those documentaries with the power to make you re-examine your entire life -- or at least get off the couch.

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88

TV Guide Ken Fox

Raises important questions that resonate far beyond the subject at hand: What is the meaning of accomplishment, and how do you define triumph?

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88

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

Their story is deeply involving, all the more so because it isn’t simple or straightforward.

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83

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Lucy Walker's observant film Blindsight is about profound East-West differences in the importance of journey versus destination and comradeship versus competition.

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80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Walker was the best choice to document this journey. For one thing, her first film, "Devil's Playground," and its examination of how Amish teenagers react when confronted with the outside world, showed her to be both curious and fearless. Plus, it turns out she is herself blind in one eye.

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75

Boston Globe Staff (Not credited)

The movie is about hope and courage and fortitude. It's about beating the odds and defying expectations. But Lucy Walker's movie is also about whether the trip was a good idea in the first place. The answer is compellingly complicated.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Tamara Straus

Simultaneously a sports adventure film, a tear-jerking tale of hope and inspiration and a captivating meditation on culture clash.

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70

Variety Leslie Felperin

The deceptively complex picture gradually grows sharp edges and snowballs into a compelling study in culture clash, with spectacular scenery to boot.

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70

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Spiritually aware documentary.

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67

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

A moving and touching documentary.

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60

Village Voice Julia Wallace

Blindsight works best when it casts off the constraints of the adventure tale it wasn't meant to be and settles into a deft and humanistic treatment of blindness in Tibet.

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30

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The kids are impressively plucky, but Weihenmayer comes off as an egomaniac, arguing with his team and endangering the youngsters' lives. Lucy Walker directed this cloying and manipulative 2006 documentary.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

viking loeb gave it a10:
....just saw it....spectacular movie, beautiful Tibet, heart-breaking kids (and evil adults?)....

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