Hollywood Shoots Itself In the Foot Again -- Historically Untrustworthy

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2005)

Seeing this movie, well-acted and directed IMO, makes me want to know more about Ray Charles, but I don't know how much I can trust what has been put before me in this film. The scene in Georgia is the only one I checked. Ray Charles is walking into a concert venue, and a young black man in the crowd talks him out of performing for the segregated audience, "You can make a difference, Ray!" Ray cancels the show, and is subsequently sued by the concert promoter and BANNED FOR LIFE from performing in Georgia. At the end of the film, the Georgia legislature "apologizes" for the earlier transgression and declares "Georgia On My Mind" as the state song.
Only it didn't happen this way at all. Ray canceled the show after fans "wrote" him, and the state of Georgia never banned him.
Was this historical shift by Hollywood so important for the entertainment value of this film? It was only a moment of tension that resulted from the distortion. Surely a historical bio-pic deserves more historical accuracy. Hollywood studios are just shooting themselves in the foot with this type of cheap spectacle.
I would have given the movie seven stars had it not been for the historical inaccuracy. Perhaps there are more allowances made for profit . . . I'd like to know the real story. Hollywood again falters.
Greg Conquest