The Way He Looks (2014)

I got this movie as a birthday present and just watched it. It's a Brazilian film (called: "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" in Portuguese) shot in São Paulo. It's about two friends (a guy and a girl) who have known each other since they were little. The guy, Leonardo (played by Ghilherme Lobo) has been blind since birth and he is always helped by his best friend, Giovana (played by Tess Amorim.) Then a new guy, Gabriel (played by Fabio Audi ) starts at the same school and becomes friends with Leonardo and Giovana. Gabriel even starts taking over Giovana's traditional role of helping Leonardo and that causes some issues between Giovana and Gabriel and Giovana and Leonardo. Another issue is that Giovana has secretly had feelings for Leonardo and wants him to like her too, but instead he falls in love with Gabriel.

The storyline is more about a blind person finding love rather than a story about gays. There are no sex scenes and the director's commentary says that was to make it more about universal love and romance rather than plain sex. I think a sex scene would have just meddled the story and isn't needed - - as most aren't needed in films nowadays. The guy who plays Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo) isn't really blind, but you could never tell. I have worked with blind people and he (Ghilherme) does such a great job that he looks and acts blind. That is a very hard thing for someone who can see to do well.

The film was a success in Brazil and eventually went to several film festivals  (like the 64th Berlin International Film Festival where it won several awards and prizes) and was even Brazil's entry to the 87th Academy Awards (the Oscars) in Hollywood. It deserves a lot of praise for including two topics (homosexuality and blindness) in such a way that a straight, seeing person would enjoy watching it.