BLINK Movie Review

Directors Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson show us the beautiful Northern Lights in Montreal, Canada. The green light stretches across the night sky and you catch a few voices say they don’t know exactly where to look to see the light. Someone says they only see ‘black.’ Then another, with no interest in this rare visual, asks to go home. ​

You meet the voices, children of Edith Lemay and Sébastien (Seb) Pelletier. In order of age, they are Mia (11), Léo (9), Colin (6) and Laurent (4). Mia is the oldest and plays mama to the boys when needed. Edith speaks of how two children were much easier to deal with, but four is overwhelming. It’s stressful for her, but she ‘accepts the chaos.’ Seb says Mia is a typical Type A personality; ‘Follow me!’ Léo is imaginative, Colin is weird and Laurent is their little philosopher. That squares with what you hear him say in a video of him. Keep in mind when he’s speaking, he’s only four! Edith does complain that with meals, tantrums, and homework, there’s very little time left for her and Seb to be together.

It’s here where you hear of something disastrous. However, the beginning, where the children aren’t excited about what they should see when looking into the night sky, makes more sense. Edith tells us that everything in their lives changes “after the diagnosis.”

It’s discovered that three of the children, all except Léo, have a rare, incurable, genetic eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. It’s said that the cells in their eyes are slowly dying. You can’t help but ask, “If it’s so rare, how did three children in one family get it?” Mia never could see very well at night, which scared her. The stars were a void she could only imagine, which concerned her mother.

Edith is a mess about the diagnosis, feeling hopeless with nothing she can do to stop this disease from harming her soon-to-be blind children. So, a specialist suggests something she might consider. She can make sure their ‘visual memory’ gets filled. Travel… don’t allow them to miss out on what recalling a glimpse of life offers. Without a lot of money to do it, there are six of them after all; they all get together and make a bucket list of places to go, do, and see. They must take in as many sights as they can and absorb all the beauty of the planet. They take a multi-day hike to experience certain things on the list. During the end credits, you see they lapped the world. They don’t know exactly what being blind means, some are taking the news better than others.

The most defining moments of the film are their discussions about the future. They aren’t apprehensive about what will happen, believing very little will change. Laurent wants to cure blindness with a machine. That’s quite the quest.

The directors focus on their eyes when they look at an item, the sky, or one another. It’s a magnificent idea because it’s as if we’re getting pleasure from what they see with them. There are gorgeous locations for the audience of this film to look at or discover if looking for a vacation destination.

The family ends up on a cable car and gets stuck. They have been on it for hours with no rescue on the way. Laurant and Mia struggle with it, especially when the sun entirely disappears. It’s curious as they seem to be the bravest of the lot. Edith believes that for Mia, it’s probably a reminder of what’s to come.

Watch this movie and stay during the credits for the song “The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes” by Silver Mt. Zion. The music is so fitting for this movie about parents who you can’t help but weep for. They and their children will inspire you.

You’ll smile and cry, but you’ll be joy-filled to see this wonderful family take a trip to Nepal, Oman, and Egypt… and that’s just the start of things. They barely have time to look these countries up in a book, yet they are racing against time to see them from the soil. The trip is the very reason the documentary will stay with you long after the film.

Tell everyone about this movie. They’ll be happy you did… and they’ll appreciate seeing a little boy love a dog he’ll never see again, yet he is still willing to get to know that dog, without fear of the pain it will cause.

Opens nationwide on Friday, October 4, 2024.