Sugar

Here’s an unusual little sports movie. You know the old plot of the poor boy who works his way up to the big leagues and wins the World Series in the seventh game by hitting a homer in the bottom of the ninth? This ain’t that movie. We get a look at the farm system in places like the Dominican Republic, where the aspiring ballplayers are not mistreated in any way, but groomed rather like farm animals. In much of Latin America, baseball is one of the few routes out of poverty. It’s hard to imagine how desperately these young men want to succeed, but of course, only a few can. Miguel “Sugar” Santos has a lot of talent, and makes it to the US where he is quartered with a family of baseball fans in Iowa. There’s nothing really glamorous about the life of a AAA ballplayer, and Sugar speaks little English. And once again you expect him to pull out of it and land a berth with the Yanks … but this isn’t that kind of movie. It is sweet, and sad, and honest. We can’t all be superstars. Sad fact of life. But we can put it behind us and make something of our lives in other ways. I recommend this one.