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BLINDSIGHT Send This Review to a Friend
As one who’ll take a bus rather than walk ten blocks, the prospect of climbing Mt. Everest is so far from my world that any account of such an adventure would hold fascination. But “Blindsight” goes one better. It recounts the upward trek of a group of determined blind youth to climb as far up Everest as they can under leaders who recognize that this is also a climb toward feeling more confident in life. The result is an intriguing film directed by Lucy Walker, who also manages to capture scenic and cultural atmosphere in Tibet, where the teenagers are recruited into the expedition.
Key movers in the attempt are blind educator Sabriye Tenberken and blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer, who organize the team and provide the necessary inspiration and leadership. We meet the six students at the school that Tenberken operates and get to know them, as well as follow their training and preparations.
Does it matter that the brave upstarts can’t quite reach their ultimate goal? Hardly. It is the experience of trying—and they do get amazingly far along—that brings pride and new-found confidence. One admires the youths for their stamina, willingness and bravery, and hats go off too to those who have shown them a new dimension in their lives. At first, the idea seems foolhardy, but as we watch the action unfold, one understands its value as not merely a stunt. A Robson Entertainment release.
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