Radio - A Movie in a Million

Cuba Gooding Jr, has always been one of my favorites, but now, I think he's my hero. In actual fact, Radio gave me a huge appreciation for Ed Harris too. These two actors are, in my opinion two of the best we have.

Behind the times, I know, but Radio had a very quiet release here in South Africa and the relevance of its content as far as I am concerned, is timeless. Radio is a bitter-sweet discourse about the life of a retarded boy, who wanted to have a meaning, a place in society, where there is little use for the mentally challenged. Radio was also black. Enduring the constant jibes of college boys, while trudging his lonely route with a shopping trolley and a radio, Radio calmly got on with his life until a college football coach stumbled upon him. One day caught by jeering students, the coach (Ed Harris) walked in and dispelled the psyched up bunch. So began a relationship that was to be as long and beautiful as it was painful and rocky. I won't tell you more, because I believe it is a movie everyone should see for themselves (if they have not seen it before). There are many things in Radio's life that forces you to think about the very different perspective a retarded person has on life. The death of Radio's mother is one part I will never forget.

It is easy to be ignorant to the needs and worthiness of the less fortunate, but the movie forces you to look beyond what you know as reality. What if it were you? The way we deal with trauma, grief, death, bullying, is very different to the way a person in Radio's position does. The aspects of life we have to deal with and our capabilties to do so are taken for granted. How do you explain to a retarded person that their mother is dead and she's not coming back? How do you explain that they are not able to play football like other young people? Worse still, how do you tell a retarded boy who has lived the same life (all his life), that he has nowhere to go and that he can't go home? It is terribly, terribly sad. Ed Harris plays the coach with a sensitivity that is both moving and bewitching and Cuba Gooding is more than convincing as the innocent Radio. In fact, both performances are superb. Thank you, Ed and Cuba...for a journey in a million.

It has a beautiful ending that willl have you reaching for the tissue box. See this movie, please. It will open your eyes, that they will never again be closed. May you never feel the same way about the less mentally endowed again.