Made in the Dominican Republic

Sugar: Dir. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden.

Feat. Algenis Perez Soto.

Sony Pictures Classics, 2009

        The movie "Sugar" goes beyond the borders of its name, and covers topics as challenging as culture, home, finding your passion alongside the truth, and relearning what you thought you knew. Sugar (Miguel Santos, played by Algenis Santos), is the star baseball player from his small hometown village outside San Pedro de Macorís, in the Dominican Republic. His skills grant him admission to a Baseball academy and hopes for the day where he will be sent to America to play the game he has always loved, while still being able to support his family. The day finally comes and he's sent off to a training camp in Kansas where he was then offered a chance to play on an actual minor leauge team, "The Swing" in Iowa. He does not get here easily though. Back home he was always the best pitcher, he was always the first out on the field and the one who people could count on for an easy strike out, but this was not the case in America.  

       During his time in America he finds out that there are players that have skills undeniably better than his own. Everywhere we go, and through everything we do, there will always be someone who we believe is better than us - whether that thought is a figment of our imagination, or not - this is just the way of life. You don't get to pick and choose how you'll compare, there is a greater power that decides those factors and you just need to work to develop those skills. Ant this movie does a swell job at sharing that idea. Sugar struggles with balancing this fact and the hard work and patience that comes along with the intensity of professional sports. As his limits become stretched beyond repair, he turns to a relief that is illegal in the game, steroids. The situation he is put in is what many people face in their own lives, but in different circumstances. Obviously not everyone finds the struggles of hard hitting professional sports, but in our own lives we face the daily struggles and challenges that come along with day to day activities. We all strive to be better than were are, and most likely would do more than anything to get to the point where we are pleased with who we have become and what we've accomplished. This alone gets stressful and intimidating which can turn people to sides of themselves they've never expected. People in distress may turn to drugs, alcohol, crime, unhealthy relationships, depression, and many more things that may harm a persons wellbeing. In this case, Sugar turned to a pill that he believed would enhance his playing, but ended up threatening his status on the minor league team. There is a moral embedded into this scene, and director Ryan Fleck tries (and succeeds) to get you to understand that turning down the wrong path can lead to horrible places.

      With a strong turn of events, Sugar comes to terms with the fact that maybe he is not as good as everyone had always expected him to, and decides that he liked the sport itself, not competition. Again, I can personally relate to this part of the movie as I decide where I want to study in the upcoming years. I want to make the decisions that will most benefit me while still being happy, but is doing what I love as a profession rather than a hobby going to exhilarate me, or ruin me? Sometimes "giving up" and starting anew, even though completely torn down in stories and tales, may just be what's BEST for Sugar.