Absolutely Fantastic!!!!!

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2005)

Watching this movie was like feeling as if you were there. The director did an excellent job of making the viewer feel as if you were on the bus with Ray Charles and that the viewer knew Ray intimately. The music, the 50's and 60's style and fashion were presented beautifully. The way his mother is presented and the death of his younger brother was explosive and riveting. You were able to see were Mr. Charles got his temper, perseverance, and feisty nature from by watching his mother. While I have an issue with his mother and brother reappearing as if still alive and living in a world were they are still back in the 1930's...since they both at this time in his life are deceased. (both are dead) and talking to him and physically embracing him. It is for this reason that I didn't rate it a perfect "10". Mr. Charles made many mistakes and bad decisions, but it was great to see a "real national hero" perservere and overcome. The movie was overall an excellent tribute to a musical genius...Mr. Ray Charles.