#82 - A Patch of Blue (1965)

I've only ever seen the great Mr. Sidney Poitier in exactly one movie (the extremely well-done In the Heat of the Night) and while doing some research for movies, I found that he starred in A Patch of Blue, one of two movies for which the wonderful Shelley Winters won an Oscar.

Poitier plays an intelligent man who reaches out to a young blind woman who don't know many things.  She certainly never goed to one of those schools for the blind.  We learn early on-- after we meet the girl's brash, uncaring mother, played by Shelley Winters-- that her mother accidentally blinded her by throwing some chemical into her eyes at a young age.  We also learn later on that the reason her mother acts the way she does is out of good, old-fashioned resentment mixed with a little anger.  This is certainly the kind of role the Academy loves to award, especially in its supporting categories: the "big" role, replete with yelling and all kinds of drama.

Moving away from the mother, we get to focus on Elizabeth Hartman as the young woman, Selina.  She plays the role exceedingly well, the perfect amount of vulnerable and shy, interspersed with moments of self-assuredness and light candor.  At first, I found it all a bit hokey and I didn't believe the relationship between her and Poitier, but as the movie goes on, it is impossible not to be drawn into the relationship as something honest and authentic.  It makes no large jumps in its emotional range; it doesn't ask you to suspend all disbelief for a union, of sorts, that would never be actually existent.

The movie's sense of suspense, based around the growing the pair does, both separately and together, is what keeps the movie going.  And when you combine that suspense with the knowledge that Winters's character is seriously deranged, it makes for consecutive moments of a settling and unsettling nature.  It certainly gets better and better as the movie goes on.  If the ending was a little abrupt, that would be its only criticism.  Personally, I think it is the most likely and somewhat most obvious ending; trying to do too much more would have seemed forced and inauthentic.  All in all, a great movie, and one that I just know will continue to grow on me upon more reflection.

Score: 8.5/10