Full Review

Tracing legendary singer Ray Charles' life from a dirt-poor childhood in 1930s rural Florida through a chart-topping series of hits in the 1960s, Hackford employs a back-and-forth parallel narrative interweaving the childhood (C.J. Sanders plays Charles here) and adult scenes (with Jamie Foxx) to show how Ray's sudden blindness at the age of 7 may have had psychological roots in his younger brother's accidental drowning in a washing tub. With childlike impassiveness Ray witnessed the episode, the guilt and memories of which haunted him for the rest of his life.

Ray's grieving mother (Sharon Warren), a simple washerwoman, refuses to allow her remaining son to rely on anyone, as she warns him that in this cruel world he must learn to stand on his own feet.

He makes his first mark as a musician in a country band, whose leader refuses to believe at first that a black man can play country. Later, he lands in Seattle, where his opportunistic partner and a predatory female club owner, who sets up house with Ray, bilk him of his rightful pay.

He breaks free from the pair, hits the road as a backup pianist and begins to make records of his own. Around this time, he has his first experience with heroin, after he stumbles on his fellow musicians shooting up. Eventually, he lands in New York, where producer Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong) signs him for the Atlantic Records label, and encourages Ray to find his own sound, rather than parroting Nat King Cole and others of the day.

Hit follows hit, and when Ray incorporates a gospel sound into his music, some religious conservatives become outraged at what they view as sacrilege. As time goes by, he sings more mainstream tunes, even utilizing strings in his background.

He falls in love with Della Bea (Kerry Washington) who becomes his faithful wife, but continues to have a roving hand for the ladies in the band. (A caress of a woman's wrist is how he sizes up her potential.)

The addiction brings some narrow scrapes with the law, and his long-suffering wife gets wise to the mistresses, including Mary Ann (Aunjanue Ellis) and Margie (Regina King), and other children -- only one of many is actually mentioned in the film -- on the side.

Jim Crow segregation and more subtle forms of bigotry are never far away, and eventually Ray refuses to perform in Georgia in a segregated venue.

Hackford has directed all this with a sure sense of drama, especially the early scenes of the brother's drowning and Ray's ensuing blindness. The young Ray's breakthrough moment when he suddenly becomes aware of the power of sound and how to "see" with his ears -- as he takes in all the sounds around him while his mother looks on in moist-eyed, empathetic silence -- is reminiscent of Helen Keller's comprehension of "water" in "The Miracle Worker" and is one of the picture's many moving moments. "Ray" is loaded with the big hits you'd expect, and they are satisfyingly performed, with Foxx lip-synching flawlessly to Charles' originals. Though Hackford often cuts away to a dramatic scene during a musical number, and then back again, the film avoids the choppiness that characterized the musical numbers in "Chicago."

Charles himself cooperated with the film's production, but like composer Jerome Kern, who was felled by a stroke during the making of MGM's "Till the Clouds Roll By" in the 1940s, he died before the film's release. Stephen Altman's production design is handsome, and the early scenes in the '50s and '60s are authentically conveyed, without overdoing the "period" elements. A poster of the Broadway show, "New Faces," is typical of the understated use of period artifacts.

Foxx completely inhabits his role, much as Sissy Spacek did in "Coal Miner's Daughter," the Loretta Lynn story. It's a brilliant portrayal that goes well beyond mere impersonation.

James L. White's script doesn't gloss over the flaws in Charles' character: Besides the addiction and womanizing, he turns his back on early colleagues, distancing himself with an ambitious manager.

Though the film deals with some difficult subjects like drug addiction and infidelity, they are presented with great restraint, in a refreshingly nongraphic manner. There's only a smattering of bad language, all of which proves that it's possible to make an adult film with mature themes without resorting to nonstop bad language and sex.

Because of a handful of crude and profane words, sexual innuendo, racial epithets, drug use and discreet sexual situations, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.

Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.