I've heard people gushing over this movie, and I can understand why. Who wouldn't love the story of a young man whose life is changed by the generosity of others, a story founded on the Christian belief that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers? I sat in the theater rooting for Michael and the Tuohys to be successful.

But I'm glad The Blind Side lost its Oscar bid for Best Picture. Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, the family matriarch. That's fine. Bullock certainly chewed scenery in grand Hollywood style, and she has been around long enough and done enough better work than this to deserve an award.

Two things bother me about this movie. First, the facts are stretched to make both the white family and the African-American youngster seem like saints. Together, they battle to overcome racist whites, criminal inner-city blacks, and everyone in between. But in reality, Michael was a normal kid who had his share of problems with schoolwork, sports, and behavior. And the Tuohy family was far from Michael's only support system. Families both black and white shared in caring for him before he lived exclusively with the Tuohys.

But it's a movie. It's fiction. Even when "based on a true story," we all know Hollywood takes dramatic liberties when making a film. So that's not my major concern about The Blind Side. My big problem is that the Tuohy family may have "rescued" one young man, but they ignored thousands of people whose lives they could have changed for the better.

The Tuohy family patriarch, Sean, made his fortune by owning scores of fast-food restaurants. That fast-food fortune paid for Michael's room in the Tuohys' enormous mansion, and it paid for Michael's school tuition, his food, clothing, spending money, and even an expensive pick-up truck when Michael got his drivers' license.

That's a lot of money to spend so that one kid can have a home and family--one kid who happens to be a star athlete for the family's private school and then for their favorite university.

But what if Sean Tuohy and his family had spread some of their fast-food fortune around the community instead of just on Michael? I'm not talking about the fake "socialism," that's being shouted about in the right-wing media. I'm talking about responsible capitalism. What if Tuohy's Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants paid a living wage to his employees instead of minimum wage? A living wage would certainly lead to more productive employees who would value their jobs. Most important, hundreds if not thousands of these folks could have made enough money to afford a decent place to live and food and clothing for their own children. Maybe they couldn't have bought them gaudy pick-ups, but what law says every teenager is entitled to a fancy car?

One joke in the movie is that the tutor hired to help Michael study is afraid she won't get the job because she's not a Republican, as the Tuohys proudly are. Republicans such as Sean Tuohy not only don't pay a living wage to their employees, but they campaign for politicians who fight against any increase in the minimum wage, not to mention fight against countless other programs to help people find good jobs. Republicans rail against welfare, but what's the alternative when employers insist on paying such meager wages to employees?

Paying his employees a living wage would certainly better fulfill being Tuohy's brothers' and sisters' keeper than taking in one kid. Of course, if Tuohy paid a living wage, he would make less money from his business. In that case, he might not be able to have a house with ten bedrooms but have to settle for one with five. He might not be able to drive fancy cars or send his kids to the most expensive private schools or make campaign contributions to those Republicans who work so hard to keep him wealthy at the expense of the lower and middle class. He might not be able to take in a star athlete to increase the winning percentage at that expensive private school. In short, he might have to live more like the rest of us instead of in ridiculous luxury.

But if employers such as Tuohy focused less on their own person wealth and more on creating real, living-wage jobs that provided people in the community with the opportunity to earn a living wage, maybe the city wouldn't be the gang-ruled, drug-infested slum portrayed in the movie. Maybe people could hope to provide for their own families. If Republicans didn't choke off funding to public schools, maybe inner-city children could get a good education and be able to go to college. If Republicans didn't think that government has little to no role in job creation, there could be more good public-sector job opportunities.

Republicans don't believe the government should be an expression of our commitment to being our brothers' and sisters' keepers. Republicans believe that government should just get out of the way and let the private sector create jobs. But do minimum wage jobs at fast-food joints really help the citizens of this country? Those kinds of jobs help build mansions like the one the Tuohy family lives in, much like serfs built castles for the noblemen in feudal times. Perhaps a noble family occasionally took in a serf child, but is that really the kind of American we want?

But The Blind Side is just a movie, right? We're just supposed to watch it and feel good that one family helps one kid, right? We're not supposed to think about the greater implications beyond the feel-good surface, right? Wrong.

The Blind Side may want to avoid issues such as the personal and societal responsibility of job creators. But that's the blind spot of The Blind Side. People think that these kinds of movies represent reality. Viewers get teary-eyed at the good deeds the Tuohys did for Michael without thinking that their politics does many bad deeds to people just like Michael. A movie like The Blind Side obscures the fact that Republican policies create the circumstances that contribute to inner-city poverty, gangs, crime, and drug abuse.

Above all, one person should know better than to embrace the superficial view of The Blind Side. Sean Tuohy's official biography notes that before he became a college basketball star, he was raised in inner-city poverty. Of course, Tuohy worked hard for his fortune. But guess know who else works hard? People earning minimum wage slinging fast food work very hard for very little pay. Should the gap between the Tuohy family and their employees be the impossible chasm that it's become, thanks to Republican policies of the past decade?

Sean Tuohy's blind spot is that he forgot where he came from.

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