Ice Castles (2010)

Following occipital lobe trauma from an ice-skating mishap, figure skater Lexi Winston suffers cortical visual impairment.  You might think this sort of devastating injury would be career-ending, but Lexi and her plucky hockey-star boyfriend Nick set out to prove us wrong.

Normally I might include a bunch of "Spoiler Alert" tags on the plot summary, but this Ice Castles is actually a re-make of the Ice Castles from 1978.  C'mon, you remember tearing up hearing that Academy Award winning song "Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love)", don't you?  The 2010 movie serves up the modern, requisite syncopated re-make of the song, with hyper-stylized vocals.

Transient post-concussive visual disturbance is commonly encountered, but Lexi's type of prolonged/permanent vision loss from head trauma is not as common as you might think.  After the accident, we see her imaging evaluation in an older model General Electric MRI scanner (I think).  While standing in the radiology control room, the matter-of-fact physician counsels Lexi's father about the poor prognosis, advising him to take her home and prepare her for the difficult transition to a life of low vision.

These types of consultations are not normally done while standing in a control room, and in fact, the radiologists and technicians usually don't like it when non-radiologists hang out in there, let alone the family member of a patient.  Also, the doctor's assessment of Lexi's vision as "light perception" is clearly inaccurate, since Lexi's point-of-view shots suggest her ability to discriminate some shapes and movement.

Ice Castles didn't get a theatrical release, instead going straight to DVD with its release timed for the winter Olympics.  Despite some likable personalities and good skating cinematography, there is some seriously wobbly acting and an overall dingy look to the movie.  This one gets a C - , but worth a look if you have a special interest in figure skating, traumatic brain injury, or if you are a 13 year old girl.

Tidbits from 2010

There hasn't been enough eye-related content in a single film to warrant its own entry, but I think we have enough piecemeal content from a few current movies to make a mash-up post.

Sherolock Holmes - Did you know that the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, received a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1885, and later studied ophthalmology in Vienna?  His failure to develop a successful ophthalmology practice in London allowed him to use his spare time to write "A Study in Scarlet", which introduced the character Sherlock Holmes.

The Princess and the Frog - In this Jazz Age fairy tale, Mama Odie is a 200 year old voodoo queen afflicted with bilateral blindness.  The etiology of her ocular condition remains unspecified in the movie.  Given her age and ethnicity, I would list glaucoma, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration as contenders.  I actually saw this movie with Sydney and her cousin, and I would give it a B+ .  The character Mama Odie has generated a bit of controversy- check out this quote and link from Movie Line:

Meet Mama Odie, the blind, 200-year-old “magical fairy godmother” with a “seeing-eye snake” who might have easily been the mascot for popular turn-of-the-century pantry product, Mama Odie’s Sambocakes and Waffle Batter.

Did You Hear About the Morgans? - Chances are nil that I will watch this abortion of a movie (at least in the theater), but the previews show scenes of Hugh Grant spraying himself in the face with bear repellent.  We've covered ocular pepper spray injuries here a few times already, but I was interested to read the claim that "bear repellent is the only proven way to prevent a grizzly bear attack. In fact, bear spray has a 90% success rate in preventing injury, making it more effective than guns in deterring an aggressive grizzly bear."

... and finally,

The Blind Side -  Despite the title, let me give you fans of ophthalmology in film a heads-up- this movie probably contains little to no eye-related content.  The term "blind side" in football refers to the side opposite the direction a player is facing.  For example, when a right-handed quarterback sets up for a pass, the left tackle is responsible for protecting his blind side.  I haven't seen the movie, but I have heard good things from people.  Wussy people.

OK peeps, that's your round-up for this month.  Happy viewing!

Ninja Assassin (2009)

Attempting to catalog the ocular and periorbital trauma in the ultra-violent Ninja Assassin would be as tedious as estimating the total blood loss in the movie. One particular injury, though, bears mentioning for its graphic depiction and very realistic post-traumatic appearance.

I don't think I'll be ruining anyone's movie-going experience by describing the plot, which involves the standard outline of an orphan, Raizo, being inducted into a grueling martial arts training regimen. The story gets told in a flashback style, reminding me a lot of David Carradine's TV show Kung Fu. Throw in the requisite rivalry with a fellow pupil, and the student-versus-master storylines, add several hundred gallons of stage blood, and you have a pretty good idea of what Ninja Assassin is all about.

OK, on to what you have all been waiting for: the eye injury. Sho Kosugi, the godfather of all ninja movies, plays Ozuno, the leader of the ruthless clan. He sustains a facial trauma and penetrating eye injury delivered by a Kusarigama, a traditional Japanese weapon with a sickle on a metal chain, with a weight on the end. Many years later, convincingly rendered evidence of Ozuno's injuries are seen, including eyelid and corneal scarring. Interestingly, Ozuno's magic regenerative ninja healing powers don't seem to work on his right eye. Also, it seems the vision loss in his right eye does not hamper his incredible ninja skills in the least.

Here is a resource for living well with vision in one eye.

And here's an eye fact from a 2005 article on eye injury from the Archives of Ophthalmology:

In the United States in 2001, an estimated 1,990,872 (6.98 per 1000 population) individuals experienced an eye injury requiring treatment in an emergency room, inpatient or outpatient facility, or private physician’s office.

I can't really objectively assess a movie like Ninja Assassin, since I spent a big part of my childhood watching ninjas in movies and on TV, reading about ninjas, and pretending to be a ninja. For me, this was a hugely enjoyable movie-going experience, full of stylized martial arts and weaponry. The final cinematic fight scene alone is worth the price of admission. For those concerned with nuances like coherent plot, continuity, or believable dialogue, Ninja Assassin will surely disappoint. For everyone else, this movie gets an A - .