Here is one of the two best independent motion pictures to be released in its year (2004). "Ray" is a commanding film about the life and struggles of R&B crossover piano man Ray Robinson, known to the world as Ray Charles.

"Ray" is about a 19-year-old blind piano player and singer, attempting to make his way through the Chitlin Circuit and into the music industry, eventually making a name for himself. After playing for a country band in north Florida, Ray hops a bus to Seattle where he plays with a trio, and meets legendary musician and producer Quincy Jones, even younger. After realizing his partner and his manager are playing him a fool, he accepts an offer from an indie record label, and begins touring as the piano player for guitar/singer Lowell Fulsom.

During this tour, he meets three entities which would remain a part of his life for the next 15 years, the bus driver named Jeff, who later became his road manager, his tenor saxophone player named Fat Head, and the burden of heroin. Attempting to feel like "one of the band," Ray gets a taste of heroin while on the road from a fellow bandmate.

Eventually, Ray's contract gets sold to Atlantic Records where its executives help him grow and find his own voice. He makes a name for himself crossing gospel and R&B despite much criticism from the religious right wing of the 1950s and 1960s.

After gaining much popularity, commanding huge salaries and filling out concert halls, Ray accepts a deal to move onto ABC's record label. There, he experiments into other crossover genre's including reviving his country roots.

During all this, he meets his wife Bea, also a singer, has children with her and loves her dearly. However, his heroin and prescription drug addiction worsens, placing him nearly in prison several times. Other conflict is created by his love of women on the road, including one of his "Raylettes," Margie, who later overdoses and inspires Ray to finally go into detox.

The entire picture is overshadowed with the haunting memory of his mother's strong will and the death of his younger brother, which he witnessed and could have prevented had he not froze up.

Overshadowing scenes with Ray's mother, and Ray as a child with his brother, after his brother's death, and as he began to lose his eyesight were the best part of the film. These scenes truly made "Ray" stand out from being just another picture about a musician with a drug habit.

I also liked how the picture focuses on what Ray Charles accomplished as a first for the world of music, both artistically and as a businessman.

Jamie Foxx (Collateral) was absolutely the best part of the picture. He did not have a weak scene, EVER. Playing Ray Charles could have been so easily overdone for any actor, but Foxx nails the role with just enough flair to make the character interesting and enough subtlety to make him believable; one of the best performances I've seen this year.

Foxx even studied at the Braille School for the role, and wore eye prosthetics from the make up department, making him actually blind in many sequences and 14 hours of shooting. The man truly proved he has every skill to be taken seriously as a craftsman. This former cast member of TV's "In Living Colour," same as Jim Carrey, won the Academy Award® for Best Actor with this role. He's simply awesome.

The supporting cast also made the picture light up. Kerry Washington (She Hate Me) plays Ray's wife of many, many years Della "Bea" Robinson with a classic movie style and grace. Regina King (Jerry Maguire) play Ray's leading Raylette of many years, and road honey, Margie. Her portrayal of this strong but chemically addicted singer was dead on.

Bokeem Woodbine (Life) plays tenor sax player Fat Head, giving an even and consistent character performance, while Clifton Powell (Never Die Alone) plays road manager Jeff with a subtle passion for Ray, his music and his family.

My favorite and to me most memorable performance--outside of Jamie Foxx--came from Sharron Warren as Ray's mother. Outside of her, the remaining cast was spiced up by Curtis Armstrong (Revenge of the Nerds movies) as Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegun, Larenz Tate (Dead Presidents) as young Quincy Jones and a special appearance by Warwick Davis (Willow) as Seattle music club MC Oberon.

Davis, if you don't already know, rarely appears out of prosthetic make up, since playing such memorable "dwarf" demanding roles as Wicket the Ewok in "Star Wars Episode IV: The Return of the Jedi," all the "Leprechaun" movies and the Harry Potter movies as Professor Flitwick. It was nice to see him have an actual supporting role and decent "character" to create, even for just a handful of scenes.

Director Taylor Hackford (Proof of Life, Dolores Claiborne) has made the best picture of his career thusfar. His shot selection to focus on Ray's hands as being his eyes, as well as allowing sound to be such a big part of the picture for the same reason, showed he was dead on for this project. I am pleased, after being unable to get funding from any studio for many years, he decided to shoot the picture independently. Even when the picture was finished, no distributor wanted to throw it into theaters. This was until an executive at Universal Pictures jumped in and nabbed the movie to distribute, since he used to hitchhike as a youngster to see the real Ray Charles perform.

If you like music, if you know nothing about the man, if you like a great haunted and dynamic character, rent "Ray." As my friend describes, it's not just a picture about a drugged out musician, but rather it's about a man who despite all that could be considered an American hero. Please, consider seeing it if you haven't.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?