Searching

... for Sugar Man. Another blip that has nothing to do with the photo. This evening we were back in Narbonne to see Searching for Sugar Man, another part of the film festival I blipped about yesterday. We meant to see it when it came out, missed it, and I was then reminded of it by Kendall back in August. I urge you to read her account, because it sums up exactly what's so wonderful about the film and Rodriguez. If the world was populated only by modest, laid-back people like him, there wouldn't be any wars. I think the most moving moment in the film is when he steps out onto the stage in Cape Town, in public for the first time in nearly 20 years, faced by an ecstatic, screaming crowd who hadn't dared to believe it was really their idol come back from the dead. And then he just starts to sing, accepting his fame as he accepted his obscurity. We liked the fact that although the concert was filmed professionally, the film uses his daughter's wobbly home video, which gives it a much more emotional quality than slick professional camerawork would.

The film is slightly economical with the truth, notably the fact that he'd already toured Australia with a major Australian band in 1981, playing to 15,000 people. But it doesn't detract from the quality of the man, still living in a run-down old house in Detroit, showing not an iota of resentment or even curiosity about where the royalties from his massive sales in South Africa had gone. He's over 70 now, and still touring occasionally.

Afterwards we went to eat at the Estagnol and spent another hour and a half talking about the film -- it's so thought-provoking. Highly recommended.

Oh, the photo: a view over the canal in Narbonne. Not brilliant, but it was handheld!