A top film of 2004

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 2005)

One of the top films of 2004, "Ray" is a stellar biopic that charts the life and career of one of the certified musical legends of the twentieth century. Ray Charles was a man who battled bigotry, blindness and his own personal demons to find fame, fortune and a place in the history books as one of the world's premier entertainers, leaving behind him a legacy of great music that is as powerful today as it was when he originally recorded it.
Structurally, the film takes a more or less conventional approach to its subject matter, starting in 1948 when Charles (then known as Raymond Charles Robinson) headed out on his own to play in seedy, all-black nightclubs, and ending in 1979, on the day when the state of Georgia officially rescinded its ban on Charles and adopted "Georgia on My Mind" as its official state song. Interspersed along the way are frequent flashbacks to Charles' childhood growing up poor and fatherless in rural Florida under the guiding hand of his hardworking, demanding and tough-as-nails mother, who, even after the tragic drowning of her youngest son and Ray's onset of blindness at age seven, never gave up instilling the basic values of perseverance and self-reliance into the young boy (what a contrast to Howard Hughes' mother in "The Aviator," who taught her child to basically fear everything life could possible throw at him!). Armed with this sense of independence and determination, which helped him to out-maneuver those who would exploit him, Charles eventually made his way to the top, even though, as is often the case with artists and performers, his personal life was often at odds with his success. The film shows us the good along with the bad, not shying away from the womanizing and heroin addiction that often threatened to derail both his career and his marriage. Writer James L White and director Taylor Hackford have a fine eye and ear for the period in which the film is set, as we see Charles struggling for recognition in a race-sensitive society, finally achieving crossover success in the 1960's, and even becoming the first major performer to defy Jim Crow laws in the segregated South.
In his superb, Oscar-winning performance, Jamie Foxx literally inhabits the role of Charles, capturing each of the singer's trademark movements and inflections with utmost accuracy and precision. Yet his is no slavish re-creation of a well-known figure, but rather a full-bodied portrait of a flesh-and-blood human being whose genius and talent often took a back seat to his misdirected obsessions and passions. The filmmakers have wisely opted to use Charles' own recordings rather than having either Foxx or someone else re-record them. The entire cast is excellent, but special kudos go to Kerry Washington, Regina King and Sharon Warren as the three key women in Charles' life.
Old-fashioned in the very best sense, "Ray," which was released in the same year that Ray Charles himself passed away, serves as a fitting tribute to a man whose life and talent inspired generations of music lovers past and present.