Documentarian Lucy Walker’s follow-up to her debut feature “Devil’s Playground” is a timeless and poignant testament to a group of six blind Tibetan children who, with some extensive help from a climbing team, attempt to climb the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri mountain next to Mt. Everest.
The trip is set in motion by blind educator Sabriye Tenberken, a German woman operating a school in Tibet for local blind children with the help of her sighted boyfriend Paul Kronenberg.
Inspired by blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer’s accomplishment of becoming the first blind man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Tenberken contacted Weihenmayer about guiding a group of blind Tibetan kids up Lhakpa Ri.
After preliminary training for the charming children by a group of experienced American climbers, the full team embarks on a journey that delineates fundamental differences between Eastern and Western philosophies via internal clashes between Tenberken and the goal-orientated climbing guides.
Visually stunning and emotionally moving, “Blindsight” is real joy through and through.
Rated PG. 104 mins.
