Radio film review

certificate_PG

RADIO

Whenever a film opens with the declaration that it's "Inspired by a true story," it sets off all kinds of warning bells. It can also be a distraction. What elements are true? What is made up? How much should we believe? In the case of Radio, the details are insignificant. The only important element is the tender and unlikely relationship between a High School football coach and a mentally retarded youth. Whatever liberties have been taken with the truth appear to have been done to dramatise this theme rather than exploit it.

Barely resisting the temptation to become maudlin, director Michael Tollin and screenwriter Mike Rich balance the focus of the story, placing as much emphasis on Coach Jones' (Ed Harris) emotional handicap as they do on Radio's (Cuba Gooding Jr.) mental one.

The story takes place in the small town of Anderson, South Carolina in 1976. Jones is the tough, forthright coach of the Hanna High School football team. His wife Linda (Debra Winger) and teenage daughter Mary Helen (Sarah Drew) play second fiddle to his work. When some of the team, led by the spiteful and cocky quarterback Johnny (Riley Smith), traumitise a pitiful young black man who spends his time pushing a shopping trolley around town and listening to a transistor radio, it brings him to the attention of Jones. While others are happy to mock the buck toothed and shy figure, Jones gives him a name, respect and ultimately dignity.

Their friendship brings Jones into conflict with the school authorities and prompts the principal (Alfre Woodard) to ask why he is sticking his neck out to help Radio. Though Jones struggles to reply, his troubled relationship with his daughter, combined with Radio's lack of a father, make the answer obvious.

Ed Harris is engaging as Jones, capturing his integrity in undemonstrative style. For, Gooding Jr. the challenges are different: How to portray a mental retard without resorting to clichés or overacting. Curbing his natural proclivity for the flamboyant, it's something he successfully pulls off. Using few words, he relies on his body to express Radio's thoughts and feelings. Just how accurately he caught his character's mannerisms is confirmed at the end when the real Radio and Coach Jones are shown.