Ray of hope

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2013)

In his heyday Ray Charles was an important and influential figure in rhythm, blues and jazz.
To someone like me born after his heyday he was a blind guy playing a piano in a shiny suit. Believe it or not, Ray Charles once advertised a VHS player on American TV.
This film is an attempt for the audience to know more about the man, his music and his demons which in his case were addiction to drugs.
Like the film Walk the line which came out at a similar time, a boyhood tragedy affects and haunts him.
Ray also has a close relationship with his mother until she died in he was 16 years old.
His fledgling beginnings in music, being ripped off by friends and people who took advantage of his blindness. His marital relationships and of course his drug addiction in a background where racial strife in southern US states was still rife.
Jamie Foxx gives a majestic performance as Ray, totally in control of the screen. Plaudits to Taylor Hackford for making what could had been a run of the mill bio-pic as something that keeps you glued to the screen.
However there has been poetic licence taken with the facts, a few minutes at Wikipedia would tell you that his marital relationships does not square as to how its been portrayed in the movie.