The soundtrack to THE HURRICANE stands about as tall and complex as the figure the movie explores, wrongfully imprisoned boxer Ruben "Hurricane" Carter. The center of the album is, logically enough, the eight-and-a-half minute Bob Dylan song "Hurricane." The other songs are divided into two camps: a collection of raucous, energetic, mostly contemporary hip-hop and R&B cuts, as well as bluesy R&B classics from the likes of Ray Charles, Etta James, and Ruth Brown. Taken as a whole, they provide a stirring tableau of a tragic, yet inspiring life.

Highlights--in addition to the Dylan classic--include a hip-hop update of "Hurricane" by an all-star collective made up of some of rap's brightest stars including the Roots, Mos Def, and Common. There's also and a sampling from Mos Def's project with Talib Kweli, Black Star, "Little Brother." Gil Scott Heron's unmistakably explosive beat poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," brings the noise and the proper tone of righteous anger to the story. THE HURRICANE closes on the subdued "The Suite" by Christopher Young, a fittingly quiet storm to end a soundtrack that could represent the life of Ruben Carter even if there were no movie with which to pair it.