BLINK-Family's Year of World Travel Prior to Childrens' Looming Blindness

The family/travel doc. focuses on a Canadian family who learn three of their four adolescent children have inherited a genetic disorder that affects the eyes leading to blindness. This devastating news is met with pragmatism by the parents. "What's hardest for parents is letting go. That is what parents do throughout their children's lives. There's nothing that can be done. There's no treatment, no cure." The best advice the mom, the key spokesperson received, "was to give them as much visual references to store in their memories." Taking this to heart, the couple decided to travel the globe for a year with their children and "fill their visual memory with as much beautiful things as we can." Mia is the oldest at 11 with 3 younger brothers, Laurent, 4, being the youngest. Only the eldest son will maintain his vision. Before departing, the family compiled a "bucket list" of what they wanted to experience. The parents explained how they could afford such a journey on their budgeted $200/day. However, the film was produced by National Geographic which mitigated the integrity of its imposed frugality and explains its breathtaking cinematography. My other nitpick was the intermittent musical scoring that detoured from a natural family travel log. Nevertheless, the essence is the family unit which remained a tight knit group who cared for one another. The boys continuously tussled with each other. "They're a pack of wild wolves," the mother lovingly called  them. The maps and childish animated drawings crisscrossing the globe added the right, light touch. The selected list designations were delightful, each member was granted a few choices. The siblings received their wishes to "drink juice while riding a camel." "See a sunrise on a mountain. Make friends in other countries." Dad got the family on an extended hike in the Himalayas with its wonders and hardships. One harrowing night the family was trapped in a swaying gondola during a storm. "We're all together, we'll be fine," the mom reassured them. The family bonds grew stronger and individual growths are observed. One son when asked how he changed said, "I know I've changed but it's hard to explain what's changed. Knowing the children's sights were shrinking,  the film was tinged in melancholy, "The first to go was the stars. Darkness renders them totally blind." Mia said, "I feel as though I'm in a void. I need to be touching something to reduce my fears." In the Amazon forest the parents join the pre-dawn ritual of sharing dreams after sharing a brewed concoction. Dreams are given credence. With an interpreter, the mom shares her dream of her son being badly burned. A woman of the indigenous tribe empathized saying, "I know, my father is ill. What can you do but accept it." Overall, this is a wondrous, travel log of a close clan providing one another memories of the world to cherish while instilling feelings of love and a sense of security. The film inspired me to compile a bucket list while feeling grateful for the beauty found in every sunrise or sunset and smiling face I'm blessed to glimpse.