By Steve Carpenter

AMERICAN HUMORIST MARK Twain once said, “Truth is stranger than fiction.” Brad Yoder, a Pittsburgh based Mennonite musician and songwriter is fond of saying, “You can’t make this stuff up.” The truth of these sayings resonates in The Blind Side, a sports-themed comedy-drama written and directed by John Lee Hancock.

If it weren’t based on Michael Oher’s true story, as chronicled in Michael Lewis’s best-selling book “The Blind Side:  Evolution of a Game,” I wouldn’t believe it. Actual sports footage bookends this heart-warming tale of a young man’s escape from homelessness in Memphis, Tenn., to become a professional football player with the Baltimore Ravens. These clips anchor the film in reality, even as Hollywood glamorizes.

The Blind Side opens with one of the most gruesome moments in professional sports — 1985 footage of Lawrence Taylor, a New York Giants linebacker, tackling Washington Redskins quarterback  Joe Theismann in a play that broke Theismann’s leg and ended his career. Sandra Bullock, who shines as Leigh Anne Tuohy — a strong-willed businesswoman and suburban housewife — emphasizes the critical role of the left tackle in protecting the quarterback, particularly from attacks on his blind side. Ever since Lawrence Taylor made that devastating play, she explains, a team’s starting left tackle is often the second highest paid player after the quarterback.

Leigh Anne opens her home to “Big Mike,” a homeless black boy recruited to play football at the private all white Christian school, which her children also attend. Using her affluence and the strength of her personality, she helps Michael get an education, learn to play football and mature while dealing with her own issues of class and race. Describing the situation at the private high school, Leigh Anne says, “Poor Michael’s like a fly in the milk at that place.”

After Michael has slept for several nights on a couch downstairs, Leigh Anne decides it’s time to give him his own room. She asks him if he wants to stay and he agrees. The chasm between them is demonstrated when she shows him his room. He says, “Never had one before” to which she asks, “What, a room to yourself?” Michael replies, “A bed.”

Although you’ve seen this “rags to riches,” “frog to prince,” story before, what distinguishes this film is the outstanding performances by Sandra Bullock and child actor Jae Head, playing her precocious son S.J., who befriends Michael and coaches him through many necessary cultural adjustments.

While acknowledging few escape the drugs, violence and poverty of inner cities, the film plays into an American myth that anyone can be rich and famous if only they get the right opportunity. Michael Oher’s exceptional story gives us hope, but unlike the film, such hope has little basis in reality.

In a nation of 230 million adults only 18,000, or less than .00783 percent, are professional athletes. A person is far more likely to be incarcerated. The statistics are grim. One in every 100 Americans (1 percent) is behind bars. If you are a black male those figures are five times higher (5 percent). Let’s not kid ourselves. Michael Oher’s story is the exception that proves the rule.

The Blind Side deals exceptionally well with the difficult issues of race and class. In one scene, Leigh Anne is having lunch in a posh restaurant with her affluent friends, who wonder why she is taking this boy in. One asks, “Is this some kind of white guilt thing?” Another says, “Honey, you’re changing that boy’s life” to which she replies, “No, he’s changing mine.” Leigh Anne questions her own motives, and so do her friends, family and even an NCAA collegiate sports official. The film explores the contradictions inherent when privileged white people engage in “rescuing behavior” by heaping resources on the “poor” to feel better about themselves.

However, it demonstrates the power of extending help such as the Tuohy family did with Michael. Leigh Anne learns the importance of asking before helping rather than assuming she knows what Michael wants or what is best for him.

This is a good lesson for all of us, whether in cross-cultural relationships or simply relating to our own family and friends.

Steve Carpenter lives in Harrisonburg.