Fault-finding Tibetan Buddhism is not a particularly popular pastime, at least not in the West these days. All those admirers of the high lamas and heroic peasants under Chinese occupation tend to overlook an especially unpleasant keystone of the culture's belief in reincarnation, that one's sins in this life will affect one's situation in the next. If you were exceptionally wicked, you're reborn disadvantaged or a lower form of life (a beggar or a freelance film critic, for instance).

Thus does Tibetan cosmology account neatly and pitilessly for birth defects and congenital illness; the sufferer deserved it (a well-known UK soccer coach and Buddhist convert got the sack by saying he agreed with this).

That local color endows the documentary feature Blindsight with significant poignancy and emotional depth, making an especially moving experience out of what would otherwise seem a contrived "inspirational" photo op. The focus is on a mountaineering expedition to one of the adjacent peaks of Everest, undertaken by a largely sightless team of mountain climbers. Recruited especially for the "Climbing Blind" ascent is Colorado's Erik Weihenmayer, a Time cover celebrity for his achievements in climbing and bouldering without benefit of vision. But the driving force is one Sabriye Tenberken, who founded a "Braille Without Borders" school in Lhasa that accepts blind Tibetan youth, otherwise scorned outcasts in their own villages and families. Even the kids are largely convinced that their handicap is righteous lifelong punishment for — something. The ascent of the Sacred Mountain is supposed to be a lesson in overcoming such limitations.

Thus, we learn the back stories of the natives, usually reduced to undifferentiated Sherpas in so many mountaineering accounts (documentaries have been generally more even-handed). Most of the blind teenagers speak English, sing Western and Asian pop tunes, and one named Tashi (Lucky) recounts an especially heartrending life of deprivation and exploitation. He's also hiding a shameful personal secret; yes, I sort of expected a revelation, like that Arrested Development sitcom subplot, that he's not blind at all, just faking for sympathy and career opportunities. Guess in my next life I'll be fortunate if I'm reborn a higher vertebrate.

Director Lucy Walker intercuts Tashi's woe skillfully with the expedition itself, which does not go quite the way you'd expect, certainly not how a Hollywood screenwriter would have plotted it out. If there's justice in the world, there will be VHS versions of Blindsight (I'd imagine navigating DVD menus might present a problem) released that are audio-described — in all languages.

Blindsight: 5:15 Thursday, July 17 and 7 p.m. Friday, July 18, at Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, 11141 East Blvd., 216-421-7450.