Celebrating Sugar Man

Searching for Sugar Man trailer

I was immensely pleased to see Searching for Sugar Man pick up the Oscar for best documentary feature.  It certainly is the best doc I've seen in some time .

I first saw the film on a video link several months ago and was deeply moved by the story of singer- songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, who after cutting two strong albums in the early 70's, neither of which sold in the U.S., lived a life of obscurity, raising his family in Detroit and working blue collar jobs demolishing  and rehabing houses in the city.  Late in his life, in the late 90's, he would discover that unknown to him, he had been a superstar in South Africa all this time , since the early 70's  when his album, Cold Fact,  first appeared  there and seized the imagination of young  Afrikaners  protesting Apartheid.  "It was a soundtrack of our lives" says one fan. " He was more popular than Elvis", says another.

But because of his  obscurity, no one in South Africa knew anything about him and rumors circulated that he had killed himself onstage during a performance . Eventually in the mid 90;s a couple of his South African  fans  set out to track down the story of how Rodriguez died.   That detective story sets th film on a trail that is full of great surprises and revelations, that I will try not to spoil for you.

It is also a great story of redemption, of an obscure life that gets its reward inn the end, and the story of a wise and humble man, who as a friend says of him late in the film:  "He took all that torment, all that agony , all that confusion and pain, and transformed it into something beautiful."

And the film of this overpowering  story is so well made, so well structured, so stunningly shot and directed, so searching for the deeper meaning of the story , that you come away grateful to the filmmakers for being so damn good at their work.

Searching for Sugar Man is a truly great film and I urge everyone to screen it soon  for is rich rewards.

Here is the theatrical schedule.   Also is available for download on iTunes.

After you;ve screened the film , here are some links about how it was made .
60 Minutes story
Interview with producer Simon Chinn
An account by director Malik Bendjelloul
NY Times feature
Rodriguez website


See this film!