MALIK BENDJELLOUL

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB. 

Sweden/United Kingdom, 2012.  Red Box Films, Passion Pictures, Canfield Pictures, The Documentary Company, Hysteria Film, Saperi Film, Sveriges Television, YLE Co-Productions. Screenplay by Malik Bendjelloul, based on the article Sugar and The Sugar Man by Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman and Looking For Jesus by Craig Bartholomew Strydom.  Cinematography by Camilla Skagerstrom.  Produced by Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn.  Film Editing by Malik Bendjelloul.  

A little known folk singer from the early seventies named Rodriguez barely sold copies of his two albums in America but, in South Africa, he’s a legend.  Music enthusiasts have been playing his gorgeous combination of soulful rhythms and politically conscious lyrics for decades, as fascinated with his music as they are by the myths surrounding his demise.  The stories of his death include suicide on stage by various methods, but what will Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman and Craig Strydom discover on their journey to find out the truth?  That’s for you to enjoy learning in this emotionally uplifting, constantly entertaining documentary whose information is punctured beautifully by inclusions of the subject’s superb tunes.

Academy Award:  Best Documentary Feature