It Deserves Better

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 2016)

This'll be my first review written here, previously I've reviewed games both on my own website as well as writing freelance articles. Though seeing as how it's 8 AM and I haven't gone to bed yet (plus me being Swedish) expect some possible spelling errors and so forth.
Either way, in all honesty this movie deserves a far better rating than what it has received here on IMDb. Not to mention that some of the reviews that have been written here giving "Radio" a low score are outright hateful for no good reason. There is literally someone who basically says "this is for those who said I only give 10/10 ratings". So, by saying that, you mean that you only rated this movie poorly to "prove a point"? (Worth mentioning that the same person gave the absolutely shittastic movie "Hulk" from 2003 a 10/10)
Whatever, moving on from the negativity! Really unsure of where to start with this film. It might not be this inspiring "we shall overcome!" movie, it might not be "Forrest Gump" but honestly it isn't that type of story and that's what I like about this movie.
I love "Forrest Gump" don't get me wrong, but the reason they're able to do a lot of the things that they do in it is because it isn't based or in any way grounded in reality. Where as "Radio" tells the actual story, of an actual person who at the time of the release was still alive and kicking.
To be completely frank I am very glad that this film doesn't even try to be like "Forrest Gump" because if they did it'd be so much worse. Imitation movies usually are (those that try to surf on the success of another film).
This story is about a mentally challenged individual, living in a small town in a semi-rural area of the United States during the 70's. It doesn't involve a whole town or say the world accepting this person or like... "oh he taught us to accept handicapped people" revelation. There is no need for it since more than anything the movie simply addresses that those who suffer from whatever handicap are people like anyone else and should be treated as such.
They don't make it into this HUGE thing, it's a slow process, I mean even towards the end of the film some people are still not accepting of this mentally challenged individual.
What I am trying to say is that it's grounded in reality and it works in its favor. The acting is very well done for the most part (gotta love Ed Harris, he makes almost any movie watchable), the soundtrack is good, the cinematography is rather great and believe it or not the comedy that's in this movie hits home for me. It's subtle, but it's there.
Again, this isn't a movie where a town or something dislikes this handicapped person and then this one other person is nice to him and then at the end they're all super happy and hug and go "I can't believe I didn't accept you before but I totally do now". Once again, it works completely in its favor.
It's a small town, one person finally doing the right thing in little steps, not everyone suddenly accepts the main character in the story and it isn't sappy.
Even being a "strong burly man" I can admit to having cried to this movie all three times that I've seen it and I highly recommend it.
In the words of Roger Ebert: "There is no cynicism in Radio, no angle or edge. It's about what it's about, with an open, warm and fond nature. Every once in a while human nature expresses itself in a way we can feel good about, and this is one of those times."