Sugar: An Unexpected Ending

After completing the film Sugar, I couldn't help but feel that the ending was unexpected. When we first started watching, I was sure he was going to make it to the big leagues or at least finish out the minor league season. I was sure he was going to finish was he set out to do. I couldn't have been more wrong. Sugar, did not make it to the major leagues, he didn't even finish out his current season. He left with the excuse that he didn't want to wait for them to kick him out. As a baseball player from another country with not as many opportunities as some of his teammates, he always had to worry about the new guy coming in and stealing his limelight, and that's exactly what happened. Instead of waiting for them to dispose of him, he made himself disappear and started over anew, he went to the one place he always planned on: New York. Although, the circumstances were different than he originally thought, that's where he ultimately ended up in search of his friend Jorge, who was cut from the team. A fate Sugar didn't want, a fate he wanted to avoid. He left before they could do the same to him. Sugar ends up creating a life for himself in New York: he gets a job, a place to stay, makes new friends, old friends return, he has a girlfriend who speaks Spanish, and he joins a recreational baseball team. He seems to be doing alright. Sugar doesn't return home, a fact that is troubling to me, but he still calls home. He created a new life for himself, and he's content. I think content is the best word to describe him, he's working at a nine to five minimum wage job and paying rent but he's also found love, friendship, and he gets to play the game he loves without any pressure of being cut or replaced by a younger up and comer.

This film is very similar to Rocky and it's idea of the "American Dream". I may not necessarily like the ending but I can respect it, because it's meaningful. Not everyone makes it. Many try and fail, but the point is you try. Rocky tried, Sugar tried, and even though at first they didn't succeed, it didn't mean that their lives were over. Life goes on, and both characters persevered, they didn't give in and they didn't give up. 

So, the ending was unexpected, but it made an impact because people root for the underdog and sometimes the underdog doesn't win. Sugar was an underdog, he came over from another country, from poverty to make it big in America, but that didn't happen, and the audience was upset. They were upset because they were rooting for him. They wanted him to make it, because they identify with him. They relate to his character.

The social reality in this film is very direct, this happens, everyday. In no way is it the end. Life goes on. People are strong. They are fighters, they are survivors. They will make it through somehow, someway.