Searching for Sugar Man (2012) – 8/10 – Deep, touching, inspirational,story of a phenomenon you never heard of
‘Searching for..’ is a documentary about a 1970s rock n roll musician named Sixto Rodriguez, who was an unknown singer, songwriter, poet, and guitar player. He was a drifter from Detroit, Michigan, with no home and no money in his name. Some producers heard his talent and signed him to a contract. Rodriguez released two albums, which didn’t sell for reasons nobody understood. He gave a concert in Australia, which was a flop. The producers dropped him after that, and he disappeared into obscurity overnight.
Years later, one of his albums ended up in South Africa, and his work went through a renaissance. People created bootleg copies and passed them around the South African black market. At that time, South Africa was a police state at the peak of the apartheid. The government there was extremely conservative to the point televisions were considered communist technology. When Rodriguez’s album rose, the government banned and censored his tracks with any mention of drugs, sex, or violence. It didn’t stop the public. He became more popular than Elvis, Beatles like Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan in South Africa and South American countries. However, nobody had heard of him in Detroit or the USA. Nobody knew what had happened to him after the early 70s. There were rumors he had burned himself alive on stage in a suicide, and others that he had shot himself in the head after a performance. Decades later, several fans go off in search of what had actually happened. That’s where the story begins, in search of this mythical figure. Essentially a mystery with investigative journalism.
Would I recommend this? Yes. It’s a deep, touching, uplifting, and inspirational story. Genius exists in the world and places from people you would never expect. I had never heard of Rodriguez or even knew such a story was possible in the age of live television, newspapers, and digital technology. It’s definitely worth a watch.
