Ray
Grade: |
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Plot Summary:
(*singing*) "Hit the road, Jack...and dontcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more..." I'm sorry...what was the question again?Opinion:
Throughout my life, my taste in music has ranged from ‘80s pop, late 80’s hard rock, and then to progressive metal which takes up most of the slots in my CD player today. All of the above could easily be described as ‘white’ music—musical genres where finding any artists of ‘color’ is really a rare thing. I’m inclined to think that’s a coincidence—that I would like those particular music styles no matter what race the artists were (and note: I most certainly am not a country fan…)—but it’s hard to say.Despite my ‘ultra-white’ upbringing and taste in music, I still found myself knowing quite a few of the songs from “Ray”—the biopic of the late Ray Charles. Like Michael Jackson in his heyday, Ray Charles's music transcended race—a fact that the movie itself makes clear. We see that once he progressed beyond the all-black jazz clubs in which he started, and broadened his style of music, people of all races enjoyed and 'got down' to Ray’s songs. This crossover appeal, in fact, created some unique challenges for Ray as playing for combined white/black audiences—with strict segregation laws in effect—led to some tough decisions for him.
The brief period of Ray’s life portrayed in the movie starts after he was already an accomplished musician—we don’t get any scenes about how he developed his talent, only expanding it into different forms of music and getting people to listen. Like all good biopics, “Ray” takes time to delve into many of the personal challenges Ray Charles faced throughout his life—the most obvious of which is his blindness, but also included psychological issues, chronic unfaithfulness, and a severe heroin addiction.
Like all good movies, you don’t need to be black or like R&B to get into “Ray” the movie. It is a long movie (and feels like it sometimes), but never gets to a point where you’re constantly looking at your watch wondering when it’s going to end. Jamie Foxx earns his Best Actor award here—there’s never a doubt that you’re looking at the ‘real’ Ray Charles throughout the entire film. Is it among the best of biography pictures? No, it’s not “Amadeus” by any means, but neither could I find anything really wrong with it either. “Ray” is a keeper for anyone of any race…
Content Analysis: (2-2-1-4 on the Baron's scale)
For a PG-13, “Ray” is actually pretty light—in every aspect except for ‘drug use’. The profanity is minimal and, despite Ray’s adultery playing a large part of the movie, there are no real ‘sex scenes’ either. (It shows the adultery without actually showing the adultery, if you know what I mean…)The drug use issue, though, deserves some discussion. There’s always been a movement in entertainment to get ‘drug use’ factored in more heavily in movie ratings—even to the extent of an automatic ‘R’ for any movie depicting it. There’s no question there’s a lot of smoking and heroin use in “Ray”, but I find it hard to accept that I should care about depictions of drug use to the same extent as profanity/sex/or violence. While you recognize it as ‘bad’ behavior, are people really ‘offended’ at seeing someone shoot up? (The movie makes clear the impact being addicted to heroin had on Ray’s life, as well as how hard it was to kick the habit. The smoking may, in fact, be more problematic, because it’s shown to be almost omnipresent and casual among all the characters. It was the 50's, of course…)
Put simply, unless you really care about drug use in movies, consider this a light PG-13. The filmmakers deserve credit for this, in fact, because they could have made “Ray” much, much heavier in any number of areas...
In-depth Analysis:
Many people who complain about having to follow the commandments of God make the illogical assertion that following them restricts your free agency. “Ray” makes the point that it is, in fact, the other way around. Early in his career, he had the choice of whether to use heroin or not. Later on, after that choice had been made, his remaining choices were limited—he no longer had the ability to choose not to use heroin. The addiction had taken that choice away—and Ray had to struggle for a long time to get that choice back. We are free to choose...but unfortunately maintaining that freedom requires making the proper choices from the beginning.Near the end, Ray’s mom (in dream form) criticized him for letting the drugs make him a ‘cripple’ after she had spent much of his childhood teaching him how to be independent. Luckily, Ray still had a chance to change before irreparable damage had been done (compare his fate to that of his mistress Marge).
Ray’s adultery was also a choice that had the impact of limiting his future choices. He was able to get away with his affairs for a while, until the day when Marge told him she was pregnant. You could see the look on Ray's face when he realized that things had started to go a little too far this time. Fortunately, Ray had a very understanding and accepting wife, and Ray was able to avoid losing his family permanently. Whether he was ‘deserving’ of such acceptance by his long-suffering wife is debatable, but give credit to Bea Charles for making a decision and standing by it through the years.
Another interesting scene is a flashback to when Ray was young and struggling to adapt to his blindness. He fell and cried out for help from his mom, who deliberately remained quiet and watched while the young Ray struggled to find his way around on his own. Again, one can draw a parallel here to those who complain that God should be playing a more active role in keeping us from hardship and difficulty—not mindful of the fact that struggling through difficulties is what makes us learn and grow. Very few in the audience would consider the behavior of Ray’s mom to be ‘insensitive’ or ‘uncaring’, even though she didn’t help him as much as she could have. Why, then, should God be automatically labeled ‘uncaring’ or (worse) ‘absent’ simply because we have to struggle through things on our own sometimes…
