Last night I did something I've wanted to do for almost two years. I sat down with my 9 year old son and watched the movie Radio.
Radio is an important movie for me because it shows a very strong, masculine man who is compassionate. Often the two are set at odds, so much so that the term macho is synonymous with a lack of compassion. Yet this film shows an icon of traditional machismo (a southern football coach) who has compassion on a mentally disabled boy in his community.
My son enjoyed the movie in part because there's a lot of hard-hitting football in it. That's the genius of the story as a teaching tool for boys. It shows that it's possible to thrive in a man's world of toughness and competition, and still be compassionate.
I showed it to my son because the film portrays the kind of man that I want him to be; the kind of man I want to be.
The Book of Virtues taught me that stories are among the best ways to teach what virtue looks like; far better than rules. Rules fall far short of training in virtue. Stories like Radio can help teach boys and men about the virtue of compassion. They also can teach the vice of evil. My son could see the cruelty of some of the characters depicted in Radio and be appropriately reviled.
I commend the film to you.
My Rating: Own It.
Incidentally, if you search for the word "movie" in the search box on my blog, you can read my past movie reviews.
4 comments:
The Book of Virtues taught you that? What about the Gospels?!
sounds like a good movie.
Hey! No smart comments!
Of course the whole Bible is filled with stories that teach virtue. It's just that most of them aren't children's stories. For child training it's good to start with stuff like the Book of Virtues. I heard Dennis Prager say that reading the Torah to a six year old taught him how much of it is rated NC-17. I concur.
For my money, the story of Chicken Little is among the most profound of all stories, and particularly relevant in today's world. Wisdom is knowing what to fear, and what not to fear. But I digress...
Radio is a great story. Part of what I like is that it was in my home area. That all happened in Anderson, SC (at TL Hannah High School), about 30 miles from where I grew up. Radio is a huge Clemson fan (my alma mater). The year the movie came out, he was honored by Clemson by letting him "run down the hill" (a huge tradition for the football team before each game) before a game on ESPN. It was one of the sweetest, coolest things to see. His smile was bigger than the stadium.
What a great story.
Post a Comment