I know! My SO and I were both like, what is that dude doing in construction work? He was the most eloquent person in the entire movie.
Just saw it today.
Wow, this better win for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. I was genuinely moved and super impressed. Amazing.
The Oscars are this Sunday.
fingers crossed
It just won Best Documentary at the BAFTAs, the British Oscars. They weren’t televised so I don’t know if Sixto was there.
I have no insight in the mind of Bendjelloul, but I can imagine that it didn’t fit into or didn’t contribute anything to the story he wanted to tell or simply because the film would have been too long if he had included that part of Rodriguez career.
Nope, they’re the 24th. Which is good, because we’re watching all the Best Picture nominees over the next two weekends.
Here in Australia, there is quite a bit of talk about the documentary being deliberately deceptive. Rodriguez toured Australia twice, in 1979 and 1980, playing very big concerts. They released a live album recorded during the first tour. His South African royalties were no doubt embezzled, but I have no reason to doubt that he received his Australian royalties.
The film strongly implies that Rodriguez gave up music after the early 70s and that until he got to South Africa he hadn’t played a gig since then and had no idea anyone outside the US was interested in his music. That’s not leaving out an irrelevant detail, it’s deceptive. It is simply untrue.
It’s an irrelevant detail in that the story is told from the point of view of the South African men who did the seeking, not from Rodriguez’s POV. They didn’t know that Rodriguez had toured Australia, so it’s not mentioned in the film. It’s not a biography of Rodriguez, it’s the tale of the search these guys made for Rodriguez and what happened afterward.
:smack: Ooops, sorry. Brain no work so good no more.
This is a great point and exactly true. The movie’s title is my cite.
Yes, it’s the story of the South Africans and their quest, but it is not an honest account of the story. The director deliberately misrepresents the facts of Rodriguez’ musical career to create a more dramatic story. If you’re OK with that in a “documentary”, fine.
Usually you just get trash talk to influence votes in the Best Picture race. I don’t know that there’s been trash talk in the doc category since the Michael Moore days. Does Australia have a doc nominated?
Hopefully it won’t affect any votes, but if SFSM loses, we’ll never know, will we?
No.
I’ve always been aware that any documentary I’ve seen has contained less than the full story. As others have said, it’s not like success in Australia saved him from poverty.
I’m hoping that for his next film project this director gets back together with those South African guys to investigate whatever happened to Sonny & Cher.
I know that feeling. 
Don’t forget the Independent Spirit awards are also coming up!
I’m expecting The Gatekeepers will win.
We just watched the movie tonight. I knew ahead of time that Rodriguez would be found alive, but the wife knew nothing about this film and enjoyed the surprise.
From what I hear, there’s not been such a lock on the Best Documentary Oscar since March of the Penguins.
So they left out bits of the guy’s life to make a better story? That doesn’t make the actual movie any worse IMO. Hell, the guy who coined the word “documentary” defined it as “creative treatment of actuality”.
Then again, he also said “Art is not a mirror but a hammer” - let’s not forget * Triumph of the Will* is a documentary- So maybe SfSM is deliberately anti-Aussie propoganda - I’ll check to see if there’s any Springbok financing involved 
It is an honest account of their story. What part of their story do you think was left out? The part that listed events that they knew nothing about and that had no impact at all on their story? Is the film also worthy of contempt, in your view, because it makes no mention of the mother of Rodriguez’s daughters thus giving the impression that he cloned them or somehow spawned them thru parthenogenesis?
:dubious:
They also didn’t show him buying that house of his in Detroit, so I can only assume he’s squatting.
Congratulations to Searching For Sugar Man for winning the Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards! I can’t wipe the grin off my face! Sixto was not there unfortunately.