THE BLIND SIDE
1. Mchael Oher grew up one of twelve children with little to no support from his parents. His dad was frequently in prison and his mom was addicted to cocaine. The movie portrayed his parents accurately, but did not mention how many siblings he had. Michael was frequently homeless due to lack of support in his life. Being on his own and being at eleven different schools during his first nine years also led to him doing poorly in school. On top of already having bad grades, Michael’s father died his senior year of high school. The movie did a good job of showing how Michael was alone before the Tuohy’s found him. They also did a good job of showing his poor work at school.
2. "I just think Michael needed somebody, and it was so evident that there was nobody in his life. It just broke my heart," the real Leigh Anne Tuohy said in a December 2009 20/20 TV interview. This quote really describes how easily the family let Michael into their home. They welcomed him very quickly and never looked back. SJ talked about Michael like he was a big quiet kid at school. Sean found out that he had no money for food and started paying for his lunches at school. The movie never mentions anything about the family helping him out before they found him walking on the street. Sean was actually the first to step up and take care of him. In the movie it seems as though it was Leigh Anne, but in real life Sean found him at a basketball game, not a volleyball game.
3. Michael and SJ were always close and still are. Michael looks to SJ as a little brother to him, and even though they are at different parts of their life, they see each other multiple times a week. Michael also talks very highly of SJ saying he’s a different person than the know it all boy from the movie. Michael is not very emotional, but SJ is one of the few that can brake him down and get him to talk. On the other hand, SJ looks up to Michael as his big brother and has learned a lot from him. He taught him, if he was not having fun doing something, do not do it. SJ looked up to him from the moment he met Michael at the age of 8 years old. Collins, their sister, states, "they have their own little deal and once in a while they'll let us in."
4. The accidnt in the movie did occur in real life. In the movie, a distracted Michael Oher does not see a truck backing out in front of him, as he and S.J. are on their way to get a new videogame that has just come out. The true story reveals that the accident actually happened in a different way. The incident was in icy conditions leading to Michael's truck sliding across the road and crashing head-on into a big van. When Leigh Anne first arrived on the scene she went and talked to Michael who was crying and could barely speak. In real life, S.J.'s injuries were much worse than what we see in the movie. Leigh Anne could barely recognize who her own son was.
5. Michael did not have to learn how to play football, and Leigh Anne never walked onto the practice field to inspire Michael. He knew how to play football before meeting the Tuohy's. So when SJ teaches him how to play football in the movie, it is not true. The film's suggestion that he needed to be taught how to play football upset the real Michael Oher, "That part right there, it really got me because it was never like that. I've always known how to play the game of football. I've always had a passion for the game. You know, it's Hollywood, so I mean that's what they do, but at the end of the day it's still a good story." He also was never a timid player and had the passion for the game all along.
18 August 2014. Web. 15 October 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/michael-oher-547478#synopsis>