Are you familiar with the character "Geordi" on Star Trek the Next Generation? He's a blind character on the Starship Enterprise, Chief Engineer. The problem? He just happens to have a visor that enables him to see perfectly, so he's basically no different from a sighted person. Just a gimmick with a goofy visor.Similarly, in "Music Within", we get a supposedly deaf man, but after a 12-second montage of him learning to read lips, he is absolutely "normal". He understands people just fine (even when their backs are to him), and when they speak to him he looks them in the eye, not the lips (major oversight by actor Ron Livingston). And just like Geordi's visor, he has a mysterious device strapped to his telephone that makes him able to understand everything perfectly (even though we're repeatedly shown that $1000 hearing aids don't work for him).Why am I making such a big deal of this seemingly insignificant point? Because it undermines the supposed message of the whole story: that disabled people are exceptional *in their own right*. By making the lead character a deaf person who can hear, by making Geordi a blind man who can see, Hollywood glosses over the reality of having a disability thereby reducing it to trivial.And that's my gripe with this movie; it's has a very "ABC Afterschool Special" feel to it. The producers tackle a difficult subject but only superficially. Just enough to give us a rousing feeling of warmth.Is that warmth, or is that just my colostomy bag springing a leak again? Sheesh.Like several other reviewers, I give this movie a thumbs up for a great subject, but I give it a thumbs down for its clunky, superficial and slightly hypocritical presentation. The whole thing feels somewhat contrived.The scenes showing discrimination are cartoonishly brutal, and it makes you think everyone in the 70s was a tactless creep. I was alive in the 70s, and while I fully agree that disabled people were overlooked, I never noticed the outright hatred that is portrayed in this film. And we're supposed to believe that the American Disabilities Act suddenly made people tolerant & friendly? That's a little too black&white for me to swallow.On another note, I agree with what another reviewer said about casting Ron Livingston as Richard Pimmentel. The real Richard Pimmentel is a heavyset man. Why couldn't the producers cast someone who weighed 280 lbs like the real Pimmentel? Or did they themselves discriminate based on looks? Sheesh.One day Hollywood will make a movie about disabled people and cast REAL disabled people. Until then, I won't be impressed by any lofty message they're trying to impart. We can applaud Michael Sheen all day for his portrayal of a man with Cerebral Palsy, but somewhere out there is an actor with real CP who's out of work because directors figure he's too much trouble to work with.

Generally I enjoy writing comments, but there are two situations where it carries some substantial qualms. One is when a filmmaker sends his/her film to me for commenting. The risks of this are obvious, because I have two audiences: my regular readers who look for something interesting and ideally illuminating, and the filmmaker who I want to encourage.The other case is when I have a bad film of a real life, presumably a noble life. I've watched two recently, both true stories of broken boys who died in the wild. Here we have something different: a living man, who I assume is considered to have done worthy things. I also assume that major facts are more or less true.But its a disaster as a movie, and because it has no value reflects badly on a life. The basic problem of course is that what makes this man worthy of a film cannot make a worthy film. But the problems are deeper.Its at least three films. One is about his relationship to his mother which is filmed in a fantastic and stylized manner with voice-over narration. A second is about his love affair. As with most such stories, this depends on the various attractions of the actress. Here it is a pretty girl, who is unique in being an Australian actress who cannot act. But she is pretty and sexy. This story works against the biography because even with her deficiencies (both as actress and character), she outshines her man.The third movie is about the guy and his work, annotated by his friendships with the "handicapped," plus his own handicap.In a better film, these three stories (plus the handicapping) would be integrated. They would weave into and enhance each other, warping suggestive texture and opening lacy opportunities for us to relate our own urges/lives.But this doesn't.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

A Celebration of Life and the Music Within Each of Us, April 14, 2008 By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviewsThe life of the extraordinary survivor Richard Pimentel is a fine biography that manages to explore the many phases of a unique man's life with humor, tenderness, and bravado. Though barely recognized in its theatrical release, MUSIC WITHIN should hopefully find a wide audience in the form of this well constructed DVD. There are many significant lessons to be learned from this story (written by Bret McKinney, Mark Andrew Olsen and Kelly Kennemeras) as well as a large dose of entertainment from some superb actors directed by Steven Sawalich (credited with the original idea for the film). Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston) entered the world as one of the survivors in a series of miscarriages by his mother (Rebecca De Mornay), a deeply disturbed woman who surrendered her only living child to a Catholic orphanage at birth. From there Pimentel grew up with bizarre circumstances, raised by his Chinese father who dies from a working accident. Desperately needing to belong and to recognized, Pimentel became an expert public speaker, but his efforts to gain admission to college were thwarted by college speech professor Ben Padrow (Hector Elizondo) who admired Pimentel's technical abilities on the stage but says he needs to live life to find his 'music within' before he can succeed in college level oratory. Out of need for employment and guarantee for a college education Pimentel joins the military, is sent to Vietnam, where a blast of incoming explosions disables him with deafness. Released from the military without the benefits of Veteran funds, Pimentel deals with his inability to hear, meets Art Honeyman (Michael Sheen) disabled by cerebral palsy and the two strike up a warm friendship: the two can understand each other and form a bond stronger than the critical eye of the 'normal world'. Pimentel meets the beautiful Christine (Melissa George) and soon they bed only to have Pimentel discover the Christine shares her bed with another man. From this point the story picks up a pace that is breathless as Pimentel gains his education and a good job, only to join a group of disabled veterans, and eventually devote his life to fighting for the rights of the disabled. And this is all true! Livingston finds the right balance between dark humor and ambition to create change in a world that views the disabled as 'ugly', and together with Michael Sheen's impeccable performance as the multifaceted cerebral palsy stricken Ken, the spot-on actors transcend the 'docudrama' genre and offer us unforgettable characters that provide a richly entertaining story as well as a plea for understanding the plight of the disabled. The features included with the DVD are full of interviews with the real Richard Pimentel and the actors' and director's responses to the formation of the American Disabilities Act that resulted from this amazing young man's struggle to find his music within. It is a wild ride of a comic film with a very tender message. Highly recommended. Grady Harp

What a masterpiece this is. I luckily got to see it and boy, the first thought that came to mind after seeing this movie is 'this ain't any less than The Shawshank Redemption'. Undoubtedly one of the most (under-rated) inspiring movies I've ever seen. The direction by Steven Sawalich is excellent and three lead characters Ron Livingston (Richard Pimentel), Melissa George (Christine) and Michael Sheen (Art Honeyman) did full justice to their roles. Special mention of Michael Sheen who played Art Honeyman in this movie is fantastic. In the very first scene of his, he catches your attention when he tries to open the Coke bottle. His characters is way too funny with perfect one line dialogs, for example when Richard gives Art the draft of the book he has written (to read and comment), Richard asks in between (while Art is reading the book in the toilet) "What page you're at?" to which Art replies "I'm at the page shut the f*** up". This also shows the kind of special bond shared by Richard and Art. I rated this movie a perfect 10/10. Do your self a favor, watch this masterpiece.