Documentary film “Blink”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, is the story of one loving family who decide to have a very special trip around the world. As the parents sincerely try to help their four children have more experience to remember, the documentary closely observes how this family come to stick together more thanks to this precious journey, and we come to have more understanding and empathy on its personal importance to all of them.  

At the beginning, we are introduced to a middle-class French-Canadian couple and their four young kids. Édith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier talk a bit about how it has frequently been demanding for both of them to raise their four kids together in their cozy suburban house, and we see how lively their four kids are in each own way. While their eldest kid Mia is your average big sister for her three younger brothers, Léo, Colin, and Laurent are often brimming with their boundless spirit and energy, and it is apparent that they have all happily grown up under the loving care and attention of their parents.

However, there is one big medical problem for three of these kids. Because of a rare genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa, Mia, Colin, and Laurent will inevitably become blind, and we notice that they are already on the way of losing their eyesight. It goes without saying that their parents were quite devastated to learn about their serious medical condition, but Édith and Sébastien have tried to help them as much as possible, and that is why they came to decide to have a global travel along with their four kids for showing a lot more of the world around them than before. 

It goes without saying that they were going to spend a lot of money for this special family trip, but then Édith and Sébastien happened to get some enough money to finance their global travel with their kids. After some careful planning on how to spend the money day by day, they and their kids made a sort of bucket list on what they wanted to experience together during their global travel, and their kids eagerly filled the list with some humor and creativity.

And they did travel around here and there around the world as shown from the documentary. First, they went to Namibia for watching many different animals living in its animal preservation region, and they were not disappointed at all as beholding those various animals out there. After that, they went to a number of different countries including Egypt, Turkey, Thailand and Mongolia, and you will be amused and touched to see one of the kids trying something so trivial but also quite meaningful to him when he and his family came to a desert area for riding camels together.

They also even go to Nepal just for watching one of those big snowy mountains of the Himalayas. Although their hiking course around the Himalayas turns out to be a bit more demanding for them, the kids do not lose their spirit at all, and Édith and Sébastien are certainly happy to see their kids enjoying not only all those beautiful landscapes surrounding them but also befriending a few local animals (I particularly like that grumpy cat, by the way).

However, Édith and Sébastien are also often reminded of how their three kids are still losing their eyesight day by day. For example, their three kids cannot easily see during nighttime, and this problem of theirs will surely get worse and worse as time goes by. They and Léo, who is incidentally not afflicted with retinitis pigmentosa unlike his three siblings, hang around with each other pretty well on the whole, but we cannot help but observe that there will soon be more distance between him and his three siblings due to the worsening eye condition of his three siblings.

Nevertheless, the emotional bond among the family members remains strong as before, and that is quite evident to us when they suddenly find themselves trapped within a rather small place in the middle of their trip in Ecuador. As they get stuck there much longer than expected, the kids become afraid and nervous, but they still stick together under their parents, and that is certainly another moment to remember for all of them.

Yes, it should be noted that these kids are pretty lucky to live under the affluent parents who can actually afford to provide a lot of things to them besides their exemplary homeschooling, but it is difficult for us not to be moved by their sincerity and enthusiasm as well as the considerable dedication shown from their parents. Although there are several occasional moments where they are quite conscious of the camera observing them, Édith and Sébastien come to us as very decent people who really care a lot about the future of their kids, and their kids are always direct and frank in showing their thoughts and feelings in front of the camera.        

 On the whole, “Blink”, which is directed by Edmund and Daniel Roher, handles its interesting human subjects with enough respect and sensitivity, and the result is often moving while never losing its sight on the personal dimensions of their precious journey at all. As shown from the end of the documentary, the kids are all right while also quite ready to go further with their life, and their family trip will always occupy a special place in their minds even after they cannot see anymore in the end.