Blindsight

2006

104 mins

Directed by Lucy Walker
98%
82%
Documentary

Follows six blind Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount... More

Follows six blind Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest in the Himalayas.

Believed by many Tibetans to be possessed by demons, the blind 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 and only school for the blind in Tibet (and who lost her own sight at 12), 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 to the top of the 7000m peak. The resulting 3-week journey is beyond anything any of them could have predicted, as they battle altitude sickness and weather.

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Blindsight | Ratings & Reviews

98_%49 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
82_%1,205 reviews
Audience score rating

"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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Village Voice

"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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Variety

"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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The New York Times

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

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San Francisco Chronicle

"Smart, thoughtful and not at all what you expect."

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New Zealand Herald

"They're being given the chance to prove that blind people can do anything if they put their minds to it. Not that they don't have other daily obstacles to overcome. We learn that the blind are reviled by Tibetan society. They're paying for sins in past lives. How would you cope with being spat at and told you're fit only to eat the corpse of your father ?"

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