After all the Academy Awards hoopla surrounding the big winners has subsided, it’s really great to find among nominated films real treasures that may not have had all the publicity that the big-budgeted films receive.
“Searching for Sugar Man” did win in the “Best Documentary” category. I have not seen the other nominated films, but I can truthful say that this film was a very well-told, dramatic story. I, like most other people living in the US during the seventies and eighties, had never heard of Rodriguez, the subject of the film. Seeing his story so well portrayed and listening to his music would have made this a good documentary. Added to these elements that while in the US very few people knew his music, he was a music icon in South Africa.
The unraveling of the mystery surrounding Rodriguez was an example of great detective work by a group of people who would not accept the legends that had grown up around him. Couple that aspect of the film with footage of his first appearances in South Africa made this an emotional roller coaster ride.
Other films that were nominated and did not win–including “The Gatekeepers” and “No” also appear to be “winners.”