In a time of great perseverance and dedication, hard work paid off. In the movie Sugar, Miguel Santos is a boy in pursuit of a dream that was given to him at a very young age. It is a dream that has himself making it big in the world of baseball. It is also categorized as an inspirational movie with a storyline that has been used in many sports movies. Even though it has the typical inspirational sports movie tagline, this movie is a little different than most. It is a different inspirational sports movie due to the international aspect and diversity that is adapted to the big screen. Normally there are a lot of these sports movies, but they are created based around American themes. Sugar brings the international view to America and how our sports are taken in and analyzed from the outside world.
It is beautifully captured in bringing the emotional side to pursuing a dream in America and also showing the inner workings of an outsider in a unfamiliar place. Melissa Segura from Sports Illustrated says that, “Apart from its masterly storytelling, the film’s greatest strength is its authenticity.” Miguel Santos is a 19-year-old boy from the Dominican Republic and is a gifted boy with a pitching talent. There is the pressure of knowing that his success is the only thing that can rescue his family and bring everything to a better standing for himself and his family. This movie is based in a few different places such as the Dominican Republic and Iowa.
This film has been featured at the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto Film festival in 2008. It is pushing for the emergence of the Dominican Dream of many men who dream of making it big. For this storyline it captures those who have been in the position of wanting to prove to those who do not think it is possible for them to make it to the next level and to assure those who believe they are right that you have what it takes. It is also different because of the language barrier. It highlights something that is different in most films that are inspirational sports films and that is the language. Not only is it a barrier for Santos, but it is the next biggest thing in his way to succeeding next to his success in baseball.
Sugar was a very good film and I rated it a 3 out of 5 due to its “authenticity” as Melissa Segura puts it. It was different than most inspirational sports movies because of its origin of the character and the language barrier. Not typically do most show the lifestyle of the determined athlete from the beginning and of the different language culture. Overall, this film was very well made and it captured the struggles that an international athlete goes through in order to achieve the American dream in the sports industry.