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Well of course I had great expectations for this movie. It was supposed to be great. I remembered seeing the trailor awhile ago - it seemed so long ago. I think this movie must have taken awhile to come out, I almost forgot about it till we received it at my work.
I didn't really know much about Ray Charles except for a few of his hit songs. I remember seeing him on TV when I was a little girl, playing a piano with sunglasses on. He always seemed to be smiling.
I have to admit, I think this movie was trying to get you to feel pity for him when they showed all that he went through - first with watching his brother drown, then going blind, then all the hardships he went through to make it to the top - that by the time he started shooting up, and sleeping around on his wife, taking advantage of people, and everytime he got busted by the police, every time his wife came to him in tears begging him to stop, you were supposed to feel pity for this man because "you have no idea what its like to go blind, to be afraid of the dark, to still be afraid of the dark" but you know what? Deal with it. Every single person on the face of this earth has issues they have to deal with, most of them stemming through childhood. Each are traumatizing in their own ways, I'm not argueing he didn't have it harder than most, but grow up. Other people get sexually molested or physically abused, and they don't grow up and turn to drugs, alcohol, fill in the blank. Instead they try to fit in and deal with it in adult ways. Using that as a cop out as to why you are the way you are is insulting to everyone else that is going through the same crap that you are, and still manages to lead a semi-normal and decent exsistence.
I'm not sure if this whole "take pity on me" was the movies intention, or if they were being true to how Ray Charles really was. But it wouldn't be the first time.
It was like he started taking heroine to numb all the pain in his life, and by the time he got to where he wanted to be, he was so blinded by his addiction to heroine he couldn't even appreciate it. He couldn't appreciate his huge mansion in Beverly Hills, his loving wife and little boy, he couldn't appreciate the fact that all around America, african-americans were calling him "a genius". It's pretty sad when you look at it in that light.
Eventually, Mr. Charles finally admitted himself into Rehabilitation and went through the withdrawels and all of that. He promised never to take heroine again, and he lived up to that promise until his dying day.
This movie depicted Ray Charles life very well, not just his life, but the envoirnments he lived in. The segregated south of the 50's, to the fast paced life of a musican, from his firm but kind mother, to his loving but concerned wife. After watching this movie you're going to want to go out and buy a Ray Charles album. You hear his music a lot in the movie (duh). I'd never really listened to Ray Charles before but I think I'll start.
I didn't really know much about Ray Charles except for a few of his hit songs. I remember seeing him on TV when I was a little girl, playing a piano with sunglasses on. He always seemed to be smiling.
I have to admit, I think this movie was trying to get you to feel pity for him when they showed all that he went through - first with watching his brother drown, then going blind, then all the hardships he went through to make it to the top - that by the time he started shooting up, and sleeping around on his wife, taking advantage of people, and everytime he got busted by the police, every time his wife came to him in tears begging him to stop, you were supposed to feel pity for this man because "you have no idea what its like to go blind, to be afraid of the dark, to still be afraid of the dark" but you know what? Deal with it. Every single person on the face of this earth has issues they have to deal with, most of them stemming through childhood. Each are traumatizing in their own ways, I'm not argueing he didn't have it harder than most, but grow up. Other people get sexually molested or physically abused, and they don't grow up and turn to drugs, alcohol, fill in the blank. Instead they try to fit in and deal with it in adult ways. Using that as a cop out as to why you are the way you are is insulting to everyone else that is going through the same crap that you are, and still manages to lead a semi-normal and decent exsistence.
I'm not sure if this whole "take pity on me" was the movies intention, or if they were being true to how Ray Charles really was. But it wouldn't be the first time.
It was like he started taking heroine to numb all the pain in his life, and by the time he got to where he wanted to be, he was so blinded by his addiction to heroine he couldn't even appreciate it. He couldn't appreciate his huge mansion in Beverly Hills, his loving wife and little boy, he couldn't appreciate the fact that all around America, african-americans were calling him "a genius". It's pretty sad when you look at it in that light.
Eventually, Mr. Charles finally admitted himself into Rehabilitation and went through the withdrawels and all of that. He promised never to take heroine again, and he lived up to that promise until his dying day.
This movie depicted Ray Charles life very well, not just his life, but the envoirnments he lived in. The segregated south of the 50's, to the fast paced life of a musican, from his firm but kind mother, to his loving but concerned wife. After watching this movie you're going to want to go out and buy a Ray Charles album. You hear his music a lot in the movie (duh). I'd never really listened to Ray Charles before but I think I'll start.
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Last edited by ash_is_the_gal; 01-27-05 at 06:07 AM.
