I saw a film tonight, on video. The story simply blew my mind; this is the sort of thing that only happens in real life, because you just can't make this stuff up. Well, perhaps you can, at that...it is the stuff that fairy tales are made of.
The film is called Searching for Sugar Man, and it's about a musician from Detroit, I guy who released two albums under the name "Rodriguez" back in the early 70's that never sold...at least not officially, and not here in the States. The musician went back to working a blue-collar job, cleaning up and restoring houses.
But a bootleg copy of the first album found its way to South Africa, and was released there under a different label. The music is beautiful and gritty, songs from the streets. In South Africa, it found a receptive audience - in part, perhaps, because certain of the tracks were censored (they physically scratched them out on the records), an audience comprised in large part of people who disliked the regime, understood that the terrible oppression there needed to end, but did not know that art was a powerful weapon in that battle...until they got ahold of this music.
The rest is an astonishing story. Understand, Rodriguez was huge in South Africa; he was bigger than Elvis, bigger than the Stones. A writer set out to learn how Rodriguez had died; there were some spectacular stories, but no facts. The film deals with what he learned, and what happened as a result.
I won't spoil it here. Watch the movie. I don't make a lot of promises, but here's one: you will not regret the time you spend doing so. It won the Oscar this year for Best Documentary, and is one of the best films I've seen in a long, long time. The music is... I can't think of an adequate adjective. Here's a sample:
Yes . . .it is an amazing story and I love me some Sugar Man. His music is beautiful. I've bought everything I can find by him. He's sweet but what I love the most is that he's humble.
Thank you If-so-Girl . . .your eyes are wide open.
I truly love this guy and I know all his songs now.
Thanks for posting this if-so-girl. I'd seen a newscast about this man and had to look into his life. Have not seen the documentary yet.
Here's a link for more details about him.
The Most Amazing Story
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