This
film has returned to a mainstream cinema house by popular request. It
formerly played at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. It showed at impossible
times and I was unable to get there. I only knew the film was about a
folk singer and nothing more.
The
film was delightful and I loved learning more about the life of
Rodriguez. He still lives in his run down house in Detroit. He is a calm
man who seems to take life as it comes. He was a 70’s singer of anti
establishment songs and never made a hit in the United States. He wasn’t
seen or heard of for over 30 years.
By
some strange route one of his songs was smuggled into South Africa. You
need to listen to the words. There is always deep meaning. He became a
folk hero in South Africa.
Journalists
and musicologists are interviewed and talk about his work. He was
called a prophet and a wise man way beyond a musician. His sad songs
just didn’t move in the US.
His singing is delightful and I found the music wonderful. His story is even more amazing.
A
very determined musicologist in South Africa wanted to find out about
the life of Rodriguez. He was presumed dead. He was virtually a hero in
South Africa. His words became ammunition in the fight against
apartheid. A sleuth in South AFrica started research on Rodriguez. Where
were the funds going from his sold records in South AFrica? What a
great surprise to discover the man was alive and working at odd jobs in
Detroit.
The
interviews with his daughters were informative and delightful. He gets
invited to South Africa to sing at a concert. The crowds treated him
like a great hero. He tells the crowd,” Thanks for keeping me alive.” He
has since gone back for several sold out concerts.
The
film was delightful from beginning to end. I loved learning more about
this wonderful man who was so unknown in the United States but was so
revered in South Africa, a country he had never previously visited.
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