Ray (2004)

Plot of Ray: There are flashbacks but in order we see Ray Charles Robinson as a child living in a poor black village in Florida, and just a hint of how he becomes interested in the piano. But crucially he witnesses the death of his younger brother George by drowning in a tin bath, a nightmare event which is to haunt him. He is sent away to a college for the blind and becomes a musician playing the piano in honky-tonk bands, but is often scammed by the promoters because he is blind. He is taken up by some record producers, but his repertoire does not really interest them, then records a song ‘Mess Around’ by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, which is a hit. His music moves into R&B and then is closer to rock and his fame increases. He marries Della, daughter of a preacher. He is also by this time, in the mid-fifties, a heroin addict. Della has a child but Ray is playing around, having affairs mostly with his backing singers, and therefore causing disruption in the camp. When he is is arrested for his heroin possession things come to a head.

Content: There is implied sex but no actual nudity. There is a lot of alcohol consumption and use of drugs, heroin and grass and Ray’s stay in rehab is traumatic. We see him as a child as he loses his sight. Then as a young adult in the music business. His relationship with his various women, and early music promoter who takes advantage of him, his wife and his mistresses. When his mistress, Margie Hendrix, is pregnant he advises an abortion, and she angrily separates from him. But as a thread through the whole film is his music as he becomes a star, and towards the end his concerts involve a band and the backing singers centre stage, and recording require a whole orchestra in the studio.

A View: We all thought this film was terrific. Roger Ebert gave it four stars out of four, it was nominated in several categories at the Oscars and Jamie Foxx won Best Actor. And it made money. Ray’s personal life is sort of interesting and his childhood in the boondocks is well presented, but the music is absolutely wonderful, in many of the performances the backing singers being featured centre stage. Well, they mostly were in his life as well. If you watch you will find that you are already familiar with much of Ray Charles’s music but did not know it. If I was still categorising films in that way, it would be an ‘Almost Must Watch’.

Fun Fact: I can’t resist including a link to Ray Charles in the Blues Brothers. Possibly the best street dance scene ever filmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdbrIrFxas0