Ray the Film Ray (Taylor

Ray

The film Ray (Taylor Hackford, 2004) would be categorized in the parlance of the film business as a biopic, which often means more pic than bio as filmmakers go for the more sensational aspects and delve less deeply into the life of the subject. In this particular case, though, the filmmakers do a better than average job of bringing the man to life and of suggesting how he fit into his era, how he thought and lived, and especially how he developed as a musician and as one who was able to excel in spite of his blindness. In the story of Ray Charles, the filmmakers necessarily reflect much about the time in which he lived which means developing the background of the Civil Rights era and the changes it brought about, as seen here in a changing relationship between the performer and his audience.

The main portion of the film covers the life of Ray Charles from his birth in 1930 through the 1960s, with an additional section at the end set in the late 1970s. This era also includes much of the change in race relations in the United States, from the era of lynching in the South (the film starts in Georgia) to the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and the beginning of a major shift in race relations, including the more militant period of Black Nationalism and the reaction to that among some in the white community. Charles experienced racial discrimination as a child and continued to experience it as he grew into adulthood. The major challenge for Charles was not discrimination, though, but his own demons and the drug addition that developed because of them.

Racism is evident in the society of the time, but it has more cogency in Charles's life when it is encountered in the music business. Charles overcomes this racism by outlasting it and by taking more and more control of his own work. a.O. Scott in the New York Times notes how the film follows Charles from his working in segregated clubs to a different era, referring to the way the film gives the viewer a sense of "African-American popular culture in the era of segregation, and of the hustling, nickel-and-diming and endless negotiating that permeated all levels of the music business" (E01).

Indeed, the way the film shows this life, it is difficult to sort out racism from the normal backstabbing, chicanery, and thievery that marks the music business of the time. Michael Atkinson in the Village Voice also notes how the film's "period context is also engrossing; we haven't been here -- the meticulously re-created urban mid-century America -- in quite a while, and the stew of lovable retro design and archival establishing shots is comfortable and sweet" (42).

Ray Charles is not depicted as a saint but as a sometimes very difficult man, even without the drug problem that afflicted him for some time. The racism of the 1950s did not stop him from performing as he wished any more than had his blindness. In 1961, he decides that he will no longer play for segregated audiences in the South as he had before, since that was expected of performers at that time and in that part of the country. Because of his stand, though, another instance of racism is seen as his home state of Georgia bans him from performing at all. The film addresses this with a section at the end set in 1979 as the state give the singer an apology for this action, showing just as much that times have changed and that a segregated audiences is no longer possible. The central issue in the film is not racism or even the society of the time, though that background is recreated well for the film. Instead, the film offers "a potent sampling of Charles' demons, faults and addictions to go along with the charm, talent and strength of character" (McCarthy 3).

The film is very successful in the way it recrets the music of the time and shows how Charles developed as a singer, and it also gives a good account of the man and of the contrasting aspects of his personality and behavior. Where the film is less successful is in the way it tries to explain these contrasting elements by linking them to one event, the time when young Ray saw his brother die in an accident. Ray feels responsible because he did not step in to save his brother, though in truth he was very young himself and not really able to do much when faced with such a horrible accident. Ray goes blind a couple of years after this event and seems to see his blindness and other problems as punishment for his failure. The filmmakers unfortunately return to this incident in his childhood over and over again, suggesting that virtually everything from his womanizing to his drug addiction can be traced back to this particular event. This places far too much power in this one incident and also tends to seem excessive as the film uses flashbacks to that event as an explanation for virtually everything. As traumatic as the event was, it cannot be seen as the only formative influence on Ray Charles or as so important that it causes all of this problems.