THE BLIND

Name: THE BLIND
Item: THE BLIND
Author: Cooper Dowd

"Now I See"

Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

THE BLIND refers to a duck blind where his friend, Al, and Phil Robertson are hunting in 1985. Phil tells Al his Christian testimony. The movie cuts to 1958 when Phil is a little boy. Phil’s father worked in the oil fields, away from home for long periods. As a youngster, Phil goes hunting and fishing to bring food home for his family. Phil’s mother has psychotic experiences where she just gets angry at everything and is hauled off by police several times. Phil’s only blessing is Kay. They know in high school they’re destined for each other. Phil gives up a football scholarship to marry Kay. His excessive drinking leads to a downward spiral. Kay gives Phil an ultimatum, but can he change?

THE BLIND is a good movie as a Christian testimony. That said, it doesn’t follow the rules of filmmaking. So, it may not win a big audience. The movie is propelled by the jeopardy, and vice and drinking, but Jesus is extolled . THE BLIND is a rough movie. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution, especially for children and young teenagers.

Content:

(CCC, BB, L, V, S, N, AA, D, M)

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Christian worldview about TV personality and businessman Phil Robertson’s Christian testimony showing his many years of drinking, philandering and getting angry before his life is transformed through Christ

Foul Language:

Four obscenities (including the “s” word)

Violence:

Mother shows violent behavior and gets taken to the police station several times, when drunk Phil shows violent behavior and pushes his wife, punching the wall next to her head, Phil drives his truck into a tree, Phil violently trashes the inside of his RV, man’s wife contemplates suicide with a bottle of pills, but someone comes into the bathroom, and people shoot ducks while hunting

Sex:

Phil and Kay, who become husband and wife, have a passionate relationship with several kisses, and Phil commits adultery before he repents and comes to Christ

Nudity:

Upper male nudity

Alcohol Use:

Excessive alcohol use with many scenes of drunkenness and reports of drunkenness but implicitly rebuked

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Lots of smoking; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Phil ignores his family, son asks Phil to show him how to fish and hunt, but Phil says no but then goes off with his friend to hunt, fish and drink, lying, cheating, husband squanders money on himself while leaving his family poor, and Phil had an absentee father and becomes an absentee father, but everything changes when he comes to Jesus Christ.

More Detail:

THE BLIND refers to a duck blind where his friend, Al, and Phil Robertson are hunting. Al asks Phil to tell him how he turned around his life, so the movie is basically an illustration of Phil’s Christian testimony.

The movie goes from 1985 when Phil and Al are talking back to 1958 when Phil is a little boy. His father worked in the oil fields, away from home for long periods of time. As a young boy, Phil goes out hunting and fishing to bring food home for his family. Phil’s mother has psychotic experiences where she just gets angry at everything and is hauled off by police several times. Phil’s only blessing is Kay, whom he thinks comes from a very rich family because they own the general store. Everybody except Kay looks down on Phil and his sister and brother as poor white trash living in the swamps.

Kay and Phil know in high school that they’re destined for each other. Phil is the Number One football player at his high school and gets a college football scholarship. However, he gives it all up after being married to Kay. His vision of happiness is living in the swamp, where they now live. Soon they have three boys. Phil’s friend, Al, gets him a job as a substitute teacher and working at a bar.

Drinking with Al at the bar and on fishing and hunting trips creates a downward spiral. Phil resigns the substitute teaching and decides to buy a bar, where he continues to drink, and even consort with other women. Kay makes the commitment that she wants to fight for the marriage. Phil’s sister sends the local pastor to talk to him in the bar, but Phil is very rude to him, threatening violence.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW] Eventually, Kay gets fed up, and Phil kicks her and their three sons out of the house. Phil moves into a filthy RV in the swamp. The pastor provides Kay and the boys with a nice house that they have for the poor right across from the church. Kay starts providing for her family.

Phil reaches rock bottom and crashes his truck into a tree. He goes to Kay, and she says she won’t take him back unless he changes. The pastor visits Phil and leads him to Christ. With Kay and the boys watching, Phil gets baptized in the swamp. His life transforms radically, and we all now the rest of the story of DUCK DYNASTY, the duck calls and the multimillion dollar hunting company that Phil started and his son, Willie, runs.

In some ways THE BLIND is a very good movie as a testimony. That said, its construction doesn’t follow all the rules of filmmaking, so it may not win a big audience. The movie is propelled by the jeopardy, and vice and drinking, while narration tells us where it’s going, and flashbacks show where it started. Even so, it could be a good testimony for many people. However, THE BLIND is definitely a rough movie, and MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution, especially for children and young teenagers.