Having spent three blissful days in Lhasa in 2007, my general impression of Tibet centers on positive images—the generally kind, gentle, and prayerful native Tibetans we encountered circling the Barkhor near our hotel. But there is a dark side—an aspect of Tibetan life I was completely unaware of until seeing Lucy Walker's remarkable documentary Blightsight about six visually impaired children who climb a 23,000 peak neighboring Mt. Everest.

The blind are ostracized in Tibet, where the natives believe that blindness indicated demonic possession or that the person is being punished for wrongdoing in a previous life. An embarrassment for their families, blind Tibetan youth are mistreated and called ugly names in public (the film shows examples on Barkhor Street). Thus, it's amazing that Sabriye Tenberken has been about to start the only school for the blind in Tibet; she could be a worthy subject for the documentary on her own. Blind since the age of 12, this courageous German woman immigrated to Tibet to establish the school and to begin the Braille without Borders program. Not only did she begin the school, but she single-handedly recruited the first students by contacting suspicious families, who thought their blind offspring would have to remain hidden and cared for throughout their lives.

Such treatment naturally attacks self-worth, so much of Tenberken's educational work must be devoted to building up her students' self-esteems. That's where Erik Weihenmayer comes in; he is the first blind mountaineer to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, so his story served as an ultimate motivator to many of Tenberken's students. After all, if a blind man can scale Mt. Everest, is there anything that a blind person can not do? So moved is Weihenmayer by Tenberken's email about her school that he decides to lead an expedition for six of her students. Each student is assigned an experienced trekker to guide them on the climb, and the expedition includes a medical expert to deal with altitude sickness and moniter everyone's health as well as a team of yaks to tote the supplies.

The filmmaker breaks up the trekking preparations to show background stories about the six students—the bulk of footage going to Tashi Pasang, the weakest link of the hiking party and the outsider of the children for reasons that are revealed during the narrative. The various vignettes unveil the characters of the participants and explore their motivations for attempting the mountain trek. And that is what adds surprising drama to the documentary!

For the experienced mountaineers, reaching the summit is vital, and they desperately desire to see the youngsters achieve this; to stop short would smack of failure. A couple of the children also sport similar attitudes. Contrasting with this view, Tenberken insists that it's the journey that is important and that the children should enjoy the experience, even coming to tears at a crucial point when a decision must be made whether to push on or turn back. The camera records some of the heated discussions that the children aren't privvy to, allowing the audience to decide whether the teacher is being over protective or demonstrating compassionate wisdom when clashing with the more competitive spirits of the mountaineers.

All ends well, as no children are lost or damaged during the challenging trek, and the participants finish with greater understanding and harmony. Along the way viewers are treated to some incredible raw footage and a memorable portrait of some truly courageous individuals and previously unrevealed insights to Tibetan culture.