Sandra Bullock? Best actress? Seriously?

Sonny predicted she would win, calling it a “kind of lifetime achievement award”. Yet looking over Bullock’s filmography, I find it somewhat hard to identify the achievements.

That said, Bullock was actually quite good as Leigh Ann Tuohy (TOO-ee) in The Blind Side, the role for which she won the Oscar. But it was an easy, feel-good role. Tuohy is a sassy steel magnolia who, out of the goodness of her heart, gives a home to an inner-city teenager — who later becomes a college football star. There’s just nothing complicated or challenging about the role. Tuohy doesn’t grow as a character. She’s a wonderful person to begin with and then she stays that way.

Blind Side is based on the story of Michael Oher, whose childhood was an inner city nightmare. His mother was a crack addict with twelve children. His father was an ex-con. Basically, Oher had to survive on his own. With some remarkable luck, he became a scholarship student at an expensive private school. He was then taken in by the real-life Leigh Ann Tuohy, who supported Oher as he struggled to get his grades up and qualify for a Division I football scholarship.

Although the film does get a bit syrupy, it works because it’s based on a true story. Charity is a lot harder to practice than it is to imagine. It’s good to have the occasional film that reminds us of the better angels of our nature.