Sugar

2008. Dir: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Starring: Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Anne Whitney and Ellary Porterfield. ●●●●○



Sports movies are quite difficult to get right. There is a risk that it will be pitched (excuse me) to the fans of the sport only, and that the movie will feel impenetrable to the viewers who are not familiar with the game. Suger opens in a Baseball training camp in the Dominican Republic where we are introduced to our hero Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Soto). Immediately I was afraid that this would not be the movie for me, the credits had hardly begun when they were taliking about fly curves etc. However within a couple of scenes you realise there is an eqilibrium, Baseball is merely the front for this interesting tale about a man following a path that may not be right or best for him, but following it because he has no choice.



During a weekend off from training Sugar returns to his poverty stricken family, immediatley we are aware that the only way out is through baseball, and that his family have begun to see Sugar as their meal ticket. Listen to the conversations between him and his mother throughout the film. Her first question to him is nearly always the same, until the last time when it is clear she has someone else on her mind.

Sugar is selected by Kansas City to join their summer camp, and from there to join their affiliated AAA league team in Indiana. Along the way we see many of his friends fall by the wayside, due to injury or just not coming up to the high standards required (both on and off the diamond). To the credit of writer-directors Boden and Fleck we never feel like the points being made in the section are laboured. The differences between the American college educated players and the Dominican boys are deftly drawn, the sense of being a product for the team is hinted at but wisely not addressed head on and the shifting emotions of Sugar as he deals with early success, injury and jealousy of the other players is deftly handled.

Only the performance enhancing drugs scene comes off as cliched, especially in the way it's filmed.

In the final act the film goes off in a completed unexpected way, unexpected for the audience as much as it is for most of the characters. There have been some debates on whether this works, however I feel it's true the the character and his journey in a way that the alternative would not be.

Most of the players, including Sugar and his mentor Jorge Ramirez (Rufino) are non-professional actors, but the performances hold up well. Both of these two could have careers if they tried and I would especially like to see Rufino try his hand at more acting work.

Technically the film is well put together, the highlight being the location work, where the building and locales used for each scene seem to fit the story at that point.

Overall this is a fine film, well made, that skillfully avoids the pitfalls that other Baseball movies may present, whilst giving us a real insight into the way professional overseas players are groomed and used by the major teams.