‘Sight’ Is a True-Life Story of God’s Power Amidst Trials, Director Says
The same director who was behind the 2023 hit movie The Blind and the 2018 biblical film Paul, Apostle of Christ says his newest project, Angel Studios’ Sight, will inspire audiences to trust God through the trials of life. Sight (PG-13) tells the true-life story of a young Chinese boy who grows up with a dream to be a doctor but faces severe challenges and persecution when schools close during the Cultural Revolution of the 60s and 70s. That boy, Ming Wang, overcomes the odds during a move to America to become one of the world’s top eye doctors whose innovations restore sight to the blind. He also becomes a Christian.
It hits theaters May 24 and is being released by Angel Studios, the same studio that released Sound of Freedom. Director Andrew Hyatt said the film urges believers to ask: How does God work through the trials of life?
“We may not all have Ming’s past and the trials and tribulations that he went through, but we all have something that … we grow from, we learn from,” Hyatt told Crosswalk Headlines. “You get to this place in life where you look back, and all those trials have made you who God wanted you to be today.”
In Sight, Ming’s companion tells him: “The present is made possible by the past.” That theme has a biblical foundation, Hyatt said.
“Whatever trauma, whatever darkness, whatever hard things you’ve gone through — God’s molded something beautiful out of that and that’s allowing you to be who you are today, whether that’s a husband, a father, a mother, a wife. … I’m not saying that we’re asking for dark things or trauma in our life, but it happens.
“How do we grow from that and learn from that?” Hyatt asked.
In the film, Ming is beaten and watches as the young girl he wants to marry is kidnapped by cultural revolutionaries. When he travels to America as a young adult, he has only $50 to his name.
Hyatt was attracted to the story because of its “coming to faith” element. He also was attracted to its Asian-centric plot. His grandmother was an Iraqi Jew who moved to China when she was four.
“She grew up in Shanghai until the Japanese occupation of World War II started and they fled the country,” he said. “They came to America. And so growing up, there was always this very strong Chinese influence in my grandmother’s home and in my mother’s home. And so I always thought their story itself was really fascinating. But I just thought, there’s nobody that’s gonna let me make a film like that.”
He got his opportunity with Sight, which uses flashback scenes to tell the story of Ming’s past. It has an all-star cast, with Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good As it Gets, You’ve Got Mail) portraying Ming’s associate and actor Ben Wang — who is in the upcoming Karate Kid movie — playing a young Ming Wang. Like his previous films The Blind and Paul, Apostle of Christ, Hyatt believes Sight will inspire audiences. He got into filmmaking, he said, to help make a difference in the world.
“I love this medium because it allows me to share these incredible stories that I know if they’re prayerfully made, we truly believe that God can speak through them,” he told Crosswalk Headlines. “… I love that part of filmmaking — that we have this opportunity for an audience around the world to come sit in a dark theater and be exposed to these stories that hopefully just move their hearts.”
Sight is rated Rated PG-13 for violence and thematic material. (It contains no coarse language or sexuality.)
Photo credit: ©AngelStudios
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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