Cadillac Records is hardly a lesson in music history yet moviegoers wishing for a historical feel and great chemistry between an excellent cast will get precisely this as well as a thrill due to the emotionally charged music.

Darnell Martin’s vision of the nascence and meteoric evolution of Cadillac Records and its stars, Muddy Waters, Etta James, Chuck Berry, Howling Wolf and others is, let’s say, personal, in that it does not abide to history as aficionados of the 1950s musical era will notice historical inaccuracies.

While connoisseurs may mind, more or less, the rest of moviegoers are in for a ride.

Songwriter Willie Dixon, portrayed by Cedric the Entertainer, narrates the story of the pioneering Chess Records label and of its singers’ rise and bumpy journeys on the road of success.

Adrien Brody gives life to Leonard Chess, the Polish immigrant who in the 1940s founded Chess Records in Chicago and picked and gathered the immensely talented black musicians who would start the rock and roll stone forever rolling.

Interestingly enough, Martin chooses to exclude Leonard Chess’ brother Phil completely from the story, despite the fact that the label was founded by both. Likewise, Leonard Chess’ first foray in the music industry, with a label called Aristocrat Records, later renamed Chess Records, is not chronicled.

Instead, Chess in shown in 1941, as a Chicago entrepreneur in search of a goldmine, while Waters toils as a sharecropper in Mississippi. Not for long though, as the planets aligned and the two met, beginning a fruitful collaboration that changed both their lives.

The film goes on to depict the social-cultural ambiance of the time – white DJs preferring not to play black singers’ music but deigning to do so for a price and racism erupting periodically and startlingly. Then we have the classic story of poverty turned into sudden prosperity, personal struggles with addiction to drugs, the temptations of infidelity, what with all the eager groupies, and relationships falling apart in the face of such trials.

Knowles gives a grand performance as Etta James, particularly with the jazz singer’s enduring “At Last.” The 27-year-old actress revealed she prepared for her role by visiting a rehabilitation facility and discussing with African-American women struggling with addiction. Etta James was in her early 20s when she became addicted to heroin.

Knowles is also executive producer, which may explain her overwhelming presence in the film. She channels her usual larger-than-life force of nature into the character while Wright’s performance, by comparison, is subdued and understated, yet palpably present.

Wright also does his own singing, as do Def, Walker and Columbus Short as Little Walter, and very satisfactorily too.

While semi-historical, “Cadillac Records” is infused with respect and appreciation for Chicago blues music, understanding and empathy for its legendary yet human representatives and a flare for drama – thankfully though, not melodrama.

“Cadillac Records”

Starring: Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Beyonce Knowles, Cedric the Entertainer, Mos Def, Columbus Short.
Director: Darnell Martin.

Rated R - contains sexual situations, drug use, profanity and brief nudity.

Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes.