Baldy for the Blind

"Baldy For the Blind" is a documentary film experience that stands out uniquely and pulls you into the world and lives of its ensemble cast, all of whom are blind or almost entirely blind all of whom come together with a single goal and personal challenge before them: to train and eventually scale the tallest mountain in Los Angels County with a peak of 10,064ft.

Their shared journey up several successively difficult mountains leading up to Baldy is our main point of struggle-- difficult even for normally sighted hikers and even more so for these brave and determined folks from all walks of life-- but that is only half the story as throughout the film we learn more and more about their personal lives as they navigate the world minus one of our senses that most of us take for granted every day and how either growing up blind or suddenly being affected with blindness later in life both changed their world profoundly and yet also gave them a totally new perspective and determination to embrace this as a new way to open themselves up to new experiences that they had never considered before.

The director Drea Castro employs a range of techniques expertly to keep us right on the edge of our anticipation for what will happen with each successive stage the hikers endure.

Soaring shots show us the sheer beauty of these natural land formations... and also their danger to any and all who wish to scale them.

Through it all these brave people all band together (along with their hiking sight guides) to form a close knit family like group who are all there for each other pushing, helping and striving to meet their goal of achieving something that they never thought possible for themselves.

The hiking leader is an experienced, kind and yet tough individual who truly wants his team to succeed but who also knows exactly when to keep the pressure and inspiration strong to help them push themselves and grow in their hiking abilities.

Seeing this film theatrically with an audience around me we were all deeply moved to tears by their stories, resilience and determination to succeed. Seeing some of these same people after the film concluded at the Q&A after the showing just made my reaction even stronger.

"Baldy For the Blind" involves scaling a mountain (well, several mountains actually) but its heart and soul is the scaling of one's own personal mountain and overcoming the challenge life has dealt by removing the ability to see and pushing far beyond fear and any myth of limits even despite this.

As one of the hikers Jojo says early on in the film "If I hadn't been born blind I don't know if I would have tried to do all these crazy things that I have taken on!"

And for me that is the biggest takeaway and lesson these folks show us in this film: that there *are no* limits. That we *can* achieve anything we truly want to if we are determined enough no matter what the circumstances or odds may be.

This is a truly beautiful and enormously inspiring documentary film. If have a chance to see it please do. It will change your life!