“Radio” (2003) by Michael Tollin

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Synopsis
Message of the Movie
Cinematography
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The message of inclusion, together with principles of non-discrimination and equality, is communicated repeatedly to the high school students by public authorities and educators. A bright illustration of the commonly discussed concepts is the film Radio. In contrast to the freedom of accepting disabled individual in the community, the movie depicts the destructive effects of prejudices toward a mentally impaired person through the prism of high school bullying.

Synopsis

Directed by Michael Tollin, the movie Radio appeared on the screen in 2003 as a heartwarming sports drama based on real-life events. The film was inspired by

a true story of Harold Jones, the high school football coach from South Caroline, and a mentally impaired young male, James Robert, also known as “Radio.” Starring Ed Harris as Coach Jones and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Radio, the movie tells a unique story of mentorship, compassion, and friendship.

Working for the T.L. Hanna High School in 1976, in Anderson (South Caroline), Coach Jones protects a mentally challenged 24-year-old, James Robert, from his team’s bullying. Man’s accidental act of kindness develops into a long-term friendship with Radio who undergoes a personal transformation from a shy, depressed man into a strong, independent person, serving as an inspiration to the local community. Despite the initial resistance of the towners, Roberts becomes a symbol of humanity, recognition, and kindness.

Message of the Movie

Though perceived as cynical or even somewhat naive by some critics, Radio encompasses eternal ideas of compassion, wholeheartedness, and inclusion, conveying an important message to the close-minded community. Despite some noticeable flawed dialogues, the movie captures the main ideas of the true story of Jones and Roberts, inviting the viewers to distinguish their priorities and rethink the value of human life.

Cinematography

Direction

Radio is directed in the best practices of Tollin who uses a simple, straightforward, rather direct line of storytelling. To effectively depict the atmosphere of the small town in South Carolina, he deliberately chooses to avoid fancy, grotesque details that would distract the viewer from the main message of the movie. Instead of focusing on the aesthetics or setting of the film, the director puts emphasis on character development and plot dynamics in order to convey a lucid yet rewarding moral of the story.

Mechanics of Movie Production

The movie uses a variety of shot techniques, including but are not limited to medium-shot, over-the-shoulder shot, panning shot, tilt shot, and tracking shot. By strategically positioning the camera at various angles, the film productors were able to capture emotions of the characters without distracting the attention from the setting and background elements (Baranowski and Hecht 92). One of the challenges associated with mechanics of the movie production in Radio is usage of the full-scale football field for the setting. With lower technological advancement of cameras in 2003, the shots had little potential to show the grandiosity of Roberts’ emotions during the first football season.

Writing

Though the script includes a fair share of stereotypical dialogues in terms of subplot characters, the overall plot line is inventive. Following the general pattern of dramas, Coach Jones has wife Linda who cannot stop complaining about her husband’s long working hours and little attention given to the family. Jones’ daughter also predictably goes out late at night and seeks her father’s attention. Finally, the film incorporates Jonny Clay as the antagonist in the movie, explaining his rotten behavior with troubled parental relationship which gives him a bad example to follow. Despite the aforementioned commonalities in the movie plots, Radio does not emphasize the essence of subplots, showing that, in the end, Jones’ family approves of his choice and Robert’s bully does not have another choice but to give up under the pressure of community.

Editing

Radio’s editing is of high-quality with scenes flowing smoothly and montage incorporated to help build the plot of the story. Instead of using many reaction shots, the editors preferred to utilize long cuts, stressing the actors’ acting ability. With a small spiritual component present in the movie, it was essential to integrate visual effects in the editing part. Though not fully realistic, the composited effects constituted an integral part of the film.

Costume Design

The costume design chosen for Radio completely fit the overall style of the movie, contributing to the tone conveyed within the plot. Everyday clothes worn by the actors communicated the high school fashion of the 70s in the US, resonating with the audience. Such little details increase the realism of the movie, making the story shown more relatable and believable (Barbieri and Pantouv 3). In the scenes devoted to the sports, football players had an appropriate uniform with a high-school merchandise.

Set Design

Movie productors chose location shooting for Radio rather than filming on a studio set. With this decision, the creators of the film achieved a higher feeling of reality without a need to replicate complex architectural details, such as football field (Čučaković and Paunović 746). However, little information is known regarding the precise location of the shooting. Some movie experts suggest that the exact high school in South Carolina was used for the shooting purposes, while others find this statement hard to believe, pointing at the fact that the educational institution is in operation all year round.

Score or Soundtrack

The chosen music and sound usage in Radio effectively served several functions: 1) shaping the audience’s emotional responses; 2) introducing a rhythm to scenes and sports segments; 3) setting the right tone and mood for emotionally-evoking or climax scenes. The presumable silence during the bullying scenes, along with briefs spells of violent rhythmical steps just before the season finale helped to build up the intrigue among the viewers. Though the soundtrack of the film did not become iconic like in some of the other Tollin’s pieces, it complemented the atmosphere and mood expected well.

Tone

Despite the somewhat creepy loneliness and isolation of the main character because of his disability, most of the movie scenes convey humorous, exciting tone in Roberts’ interaction with the Coach. In the second half of the film, stubborn resistance and close-mindedness of the community becomes scary, yet the inspiring fulfillment experienced by the audience in times of the towners’ rejoicement is overwhelming. Simplicity, complemented by high-quality humor, lays the foundation to the perception of Radio’s plot.

Acting

Radio uses a “pro forma” approach to casting with most of the actors playing their best-fit stereotypical profiles, with examples of Alfre Woodard’s role of a sensible high school principal or Epatha Merkerson’s part of Radio’s loving mother. The only actor who does not quite match the proposed profile is Gooding, the lead of the movie. With an expansive and rather expressive personality, he, sometimes, falls out of a role of a mentally disabled young adult, potentially suffering from autism. Gooding’s gestures are broad, and the facial expressions are rich which contradicts the initial image of the main character.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the movie Radio focuses on the eternal problems of discrimination and prejudices that can be easily minimized with kindness and compassion. With a simple straightforward line of storytelling, the film captures the emotions of the actors, putting emphasis on the morale of the story rather than aesthetics. Despite somewhat stereotypical dialogues, the script effectively conveys the unique story of mentorship and friendship of the high school football coach and a mentally-disabled young man.

Works Cited

Baranowski, Andreas Michael, and Heiko Hecht. “Effect of Camera Angle on Perception of Trust and Attractiveness.” Empirical Studies of the Arts, vol. 36, no. 1, 2018, pp. 90–100. Web.

Barbieri, Donatella, and Sofia Pantouv. “Towards a Philosophy of Costume.” Studies in Costume and Performance, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 3-7. Web.

Čučaković, Aleksandr, and Marija Paunović. “Perspective in Stage Design: An Application of Principles of Anamorphosis in Spatial Visualisation.” Nexus Network Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, 2016, pp. 743–758. Web.

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