Sight

This crowd-pleaser about a groundbreaking eye surgeon struggling to emerge from the darkness of the Cultural Revolution is heartfelt, if a bit too pat.

Faith-based filmmaking, once the fringiest of fringes where movies were projected mostly in churches and temples, has long since joined the mainstream. “Sight,” released from Christian-themed Angel Studios, hit theaters last week and almost broke into the box office top 10.

Based on the true story of Dr. Ming Wang, a Chinese-American who grew up during the oppression of the Cultural Revolution, it’s a heartfelt tale about a do-gooder haunted by his own past. Dr. Ming is a famous eye surgeon who specializes in restoring the sight of orphan children all over the world.

Directed by Andrew Hyatt, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Duigan and Buzz McLaughlin, it’s a genuinely heartfelt picture, if a bit too pat for my tastes. It’s one of those moviegoing experiences where you pretty much know everything that’s going to happen, but still appreciate the emotionality the cast and crew bring to the proceedings.

Terry Chen plays Wang, with Jayden Zhang and Ben Wang filling in for him as a boy and teen, respectively, during the film’s extensive flashback sequences. The story is actually roughly split between the modern setting in 2006-07 and the late 1960s to mid-’70s, as Wang grows up under his doctor father and academic mother. His struggles reach a pitch when the Maoist thugs shut down the schools and oppress anyone they think is insufficiently proletariat in their thinking or vocation.

Chen sensitively plays Dr. Ming as a good man but one tortured by his memories of the revolution, in particular a childhood friend, Lili (Sara Ye), who he was apparently sweet on. Every failure in the lab or operating room summons her ghost to haunt him for not reaching his full potential.

Greg Kinnear (Logansport’s own!) plays Misha, Wang’s partner and best friend at the Wang Vision Institute in Nashville, Tenn. He’s the outgoing yin to Wang’s introvert yang. They squabble sometimes but always know the other is in their corner as they try out various innovative medical approaches.

The framing story for the modern portion is the case of Kajal (Mia SwamiNathan), a 6-year-old girl from India who was blinded in the most horrible way imaginable: her own mother intentionally poured sulfuric acid into her eyes so she could earn more on the streets as a beggar.

At first Dr. Ming is confident he can restore the girl’s sight, and calls together a big news conference announcing his next forthcoming triumph. But when unexpected challenges arise, it sends him into a deep tailspin of depression and self-reexamination. How much of his accomplishments are truly about serving others and not his own pride?

During this time he runs into Anle (Danni Wang), a cute bartender who recognizes his pain, and this romantic journey parallels the anguish over Lili’s memory.

Despite being an American production, “Sight” is unapologetically a champion of traditional Chinese culture, one where honor and sacrifice bring beauty, with a not-at--all subtle contrast with the worst excesses of its Marxist government. It’s not rah-rah jingoistic stuff but, like the film’s religiosity, sits in plain sight without being overtly pushed on the audience.

Dr. Ming Wang’s journey is as much an American tale as a Chinese one, a rare story honoring a remarkable individual whose accomplishments transcend national boundaries. If it sometimes feels a little too much much — an overt appeal in the credits to donate to the eyesight foundation is an example — it’s hard to fault a movie that nudges us to heed our better angels.