"Ray" sheds light into Ray Charles' life

Ray Charles, renowned jazz musician, civil rights supporter, blind crusader, loving father and one-time heroin addict, passed away this summer. In his honor, producers Stuart Benjamin, Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin, Howard L. Baldwin and producer/director Taylor Hackford ("Proof of Life," "The Devil's Advocate") created "Ray," a breathtaking dramatization of his roller-coaster life.

Ray Charles (played by Jamie Foxx), born Ray Charles Robinson, grew up in the segregated south. His mother (Sharon Warren) was as strong as an ox and righteous as a preacher; her guidance would continue to haunt Charles until he became an upright, wholesome person. In pursuit of his musical career, Charles, who was blinded at age seven shortly after watching his little brother die in an accident, travels up north to Seattle, where he is abused and manipulated and struggles to hold his own. Other performers, managers and other show biz affiliates introduce Charles to promiscuity, marijuana and heroin. After a while, Charles becomes wildly successful but desperately addicted to heroin.

The side of Charles brought out by the memory of his mother is religious and caring. Charles marries Della Bea (Kerry Washington) and remains devoted to her and their children while he is at home.

The contrast between his life on the road and his life at home is really day and night. That antithesis gives "Ray" its honesty and intrigue. Because Charles was an unfaithful drug addict, it would be easy to portray him as an evil person; it would be equally as easy to portray him as a saint because of his disability and his amazing musical talent. But "Ray" shows both of these sides in a fairly equal light, giving a wholly human impression of Charles.

Foxx does such a phenomenal job of losing himself completely to the part that viewers think it really is Ray Charles in the movie. As if it weren't hard enough to play a blind man, Charles was also a very quirky man with very specific gestures, even without the junkie itch.

Foxx is supported by an astounding cast of solid women. Warren, Washington and Regina King (who plays Margie Hendricks, lead singer of the Rayetts, Charles' backup singers) all play these women of superhuman strength, and they are all mind-numbingly talented. While Warren and Washington's characters have iron morals and religious convictions, Margie Hendricks is Charles' drug-addict lovers who essentially rides his talent like so many others around him. King is absolutely radiant, showing a certain shade of pitiableness in Hendricks' sick, manipulative and opportunistic character.

With such a fabulous cast and lifelike writing, "Ray" successfully tackles just about every controversy ever known to society: prejudice, abortion, drug abuse, the perversion of religion, to name a few. All in all, "Ray" presents a whirlwind of horror and love that is a spectacular tribute to a highly deserving man--and of course the music is stellar, too.

"Ray" (153 minutes) is rated PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality and some thematic elements.