Movie Review, DVD-style: Sugar

I joined two of my favorite past times together while I was working out the other morning. I watched a baseball movie. It's not a movie that a lot of people have heard of before, but I remember seeing something about it a while back. So, when it came up on the Redbox list, I jumped at the opportunity.

Plot

Sugar follows the story of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a young man from the Dominican Republic who starts out in a developmental league for the fictitious Kansas City Knights. He is a good pitcher, and gets an opportunity to play baseball in the States. Santos goes through all the highs and lows of attempting to achieve this dream.

Review

I thought this was a very good movie. It is primarily in Spanish, so that does sometimes make it a little difficult to follow. At times the action is lacking and the movie goes a little slow, but you really get to know Santos as a person, not just a baseball player. You start to understand what it is that he is trying to go through, not only as a young man working on a dream, but as a Spanish-speaking Domincan trying to figure out how to live in a small Iowa town.

*Potential Spoiler Alert* While it may not end the way that one would expect, it is a good reflection of what really happens to the majority of those who try to make it in Major League Baseball.

Bottom Line

Great movie. I would strongly recommend it to anybody who appreciates the game of baseball, and is interested in movies that really focus on individuals and the journey that they take in life. Those who aren't interested in these two things should probably stay away from this movie because they will not find it worthwhile.

Best Part

Santos is invited to Spring Training, and the coach gives the pitchers an idea of just how hard it is going to be. He says, "There are guys above you in the organization that are hustling to keep their spots, and guys below you who are working to take yours. We have 75 guys here, and only 50 roster spots. You do the math." That's not an exact word-for-word quote from the movie, but it captures the gist of it.