Radio (2003)

The movie is based on a true story. The job of the actor Cuba was wonderful, he interpreted the character extremely well. The movie is very emotional and shows us that most people have prejudice, and when someone wants to act differently, even with good intentions, usually they need to win a battle against society. Sometimes, people need more understanding, attention, and someone to trust in order to improve themselves. Usually, people don't care about others and don't want to waste time on them. The actor Ed Harris was pretty good in the movie too. This movie is not the best, but it's a very emotional and beautiful movie, a beautiful lesson. Worth watching!

Great movie I can also relate to this movie I myself have a disability but its Autism. I watched this when it was in the movie theater back in 2003 I loved it so much. I would watch it in class also because my teacher loved that movie so much. Another thing I would like to point out is Cuba Gooding JR and ED Harris worked really well together I love the movie so much. I just watched the movie on Netflix and I still love that movie I felt bad for Radio the way he was treated by some people but then latter it got all better I hope anyone who watches this movie can love it just like I do. Its great and a very well put together film watching it is a great idea if anyone here sees this watch it the movie is worth your time. Its a great movie I never get bored of watching it all though I had not watched it in years I re watched it and I still love it great movie if you buy it its worth it if you see it its worth your time.

The movie Radio inspired by true events takes place in 1976 show the love and compassion a local high school football team and eventually the entire town shows to a young handicapped man that was once tormented by the players of the Anderson High School football team. Coach Harold Jones is played by Ed Harris. While James Robert Kennedy is played by Cuba Gooding Jr. The setting for this movie is Anderson, South Carolina. In the beginning of the movie you see "Radio" pushing his cart through out town marching to the beat of his on drum. Through out this time the movie jumps to the football practice that is taken place during the opening credits. The movie takes no time jumping into the hard and emotional scene of seeing Radio tied up in the equipment shed as the football team tortures him. There is no clear cut reason for the team torturing Radio but you do see an interaction between Radio and a player in the beginning of the movie that could hint to the reason why the players decided to torment him. Coach Jones realizes that his team is up to no good to only find Radio tied up in the shed. Coach Jones then takes Radio home to his mother where he finds out about Radio's past and that he is intellectually disabled. Coach Jones and Radio begin spending more time together, which eventually leads to Radio helping out with the football team and joining high school for the first time in his life. Radio receives his nickname from Coach Jones essentially for the simple fact that he is often seen listening to the radio, as well as collecting radios and fixing them.Radio is accepted as a part of the football team and is loved by the town. This is a very warming experience since the town was not very accepting of Radio being a part of the football in the beginning. Cuba Gooding Jr. does an amazing job encompassing the role as Radio. His acting abilities were truly put to the test with this movie and he passed with flying colors. During the closing credits there is actual video of James Robert Kennedy (Radio) and the viewer could hardly tell the difference between the two. Ed Harris also does an amazing job of playing a compassionate yet hardnosed coach that is essential to completing this movie. This movie is very moving and emotional. There is a lot of highs and lows through out but at the end it will leave the viewer feeling good and uplifted.

The highlights of this film are the two absolutely superb performances by Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris. Gooding was the title character - James Robert Kennedy, a mentally disabled young man known simply as "Radio" because of his love for radios. Harris played Harold Jones - a local high school teacher who was also coach of the Hanna High School football team and the school's athletic director. The movie is the portrayal of how their relationship develops, with Jones taking the young man under his wing, so to speak, and making him part of both the team and the school community, fighting the efforts of many of the townsfolk and school board officials to have him removed.It's certainly a heartwarming story, although it's not exactly what I'd call a tearjerker, although there are moments when tears might flow (particularly the death of Radio's mother.) There are question raised throughout the movie that are often hard to deal with. One admires Jones' devotion to Radio, but one wonders why he seems unable to show the same devotion to his own daughter. It's great to see Radio becoming gradually accepted as part of the team and school, but the movie doesn't shy away from the question of whether he isn't being treated more as a mascot than anything else - certainly a question that ran through my head on a number of occasions as we watch Radio lead the team on the the field and join the cheerleading squad from time to time. Jones' own personal motivation is finally explained as he relates a childhood experience to his daughter that illustrates why he feels so strongly for Radio. In the end, Radio's place within the life of the school is made more "official" and Kennedy is apparently still roaming the halls and the sidelines of Hanna High as an official 11th Grade student for as long as he wants to be one - this being based on a true story."Based on a true story" always makes me wonder. Kennedy is real, and he's really at Hanna High and he and Jones are really friends, so there's obviously a strong basis in fact for this movie. I wondered, though, about what seemed to be the surprisingly easy acceptance of Radio among the townspeople. Although the whole community was concerned about the on-field performance of the football team, aside from one parent and one school board official, people seemed largely unconcerned about or uninterested in Radio himself - which struck me as a surprisingly bland reaction for a small southern town in the late 1960's to have for a mentally disabled young black man. But clearly it worked long term. I did appreciate that this was about much more than the football team. The football team was the backdrop for what happened, but no more than that. This was't an "underdog overcomes" sports story. The Hanna High team didn't have a great season in this movie; neither Radio nor Coach Jones inspired them to win anything of significance. The football team just became in some ways a microcosm of the community, as they grew more and more accepting of Radio, to the point at which Radio's presence was simply a given.This is a very well done film, one of the better "based on a true story" films I've come across. (8/10)