Sugar "Azúcar"

Sugar. Dir Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
           Feat. Algenis Perez Soto

Sony Pictures Classics, 2009

      Algenis Perez Soto played the role of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, he was just another young man trying to go after his dream. Santos wanted to become a famous baseball player because he loved the game and he wanted to make enough money to send back to the Dominican Republic to support his family. One day he gets noticed while pitching by a recruiter from the United States to play for a minor league baseball team. Santos learns ways to improve his pitching and even learns to throw the perfect curve ball. After a couple of months of doing an amazing job things change. He suddenly loses the confidence he had because of a couple of mess ups, seeing his best friend get kicked off the team, and seeing an old friend take his spotlight. Santos feels as if the don't need him and that he won't get recognized so he leaves and tries to support himself all alone in New York. After leaving a big opportunity that was given to him he struggles to find a job because he had no experience and he didn't speak much English. The story doesn't have a sad ending, he finds a way to make money and where to live and joins a small local league to do what he loves in his free time. 
      Moving away from home was already a major move that Santos took, but after leaving a once in a lifetime opportunity he still found a way to make it in life. Although, he didn't become famous and wealthy he still made the money he needed to support himself and his family. This fictional movie is actually a representation of what happens sometimes to these players that come from another country. When you're playing in your country your first goal is to get recruited and you can only imagine how its going to be until everything happens and reality strikes.    
       I personally enjoy movies about sports and since I have some knowledge to how the recruitment and the process after that happens this movie had my attention. I would recommend this film to someone who loves the slow but intense game of baseball or even if they enjoy movies about sports. The only thing I wish was better was the ending--I feel like if the film ended a different way then it would make it better, but after thinking about why the film ended the way it did it helped me realize that not all stories have to have a perfect ending.