by

Jansen Estrup

Black South Africa has its heroes; the ANC, the Stephen Bikos, Winnie and Nelson Mandellas, but we've heard almost nothing about the Whites who found Apartheid so strangling, whose own struggle made inevitable change as smooth as it eventually became.

Thirty years later, a remarkable, almost incredible story has emerged to explain an important event in the revolution. Not an Argentine doctor named Ché or a Cuban lawyer called Fidel, this hero was an American auto worker named simply Rodriguez.

At last, there is a film about this American almost no one in the West has ever heard of, much less listed among our notable exports. A Cape Town poster says it this way – AMERICAN ZERO, SOUTH AFRICAN HERO.

Searching For Sugar Man is a mystery story. It is about the stranger whose music became the anthem of a revolution, who sang a people awake and then killed himself on stage in the middle of a performance. But even that is uncertain – he shot himself, one version goes, dowsed himself with petrol and set himself afire is another. A Cape Town disk jockey sets out to find the truth and after a world wide search discovers Sixto (aka Jesus) Rodriguez alive, living as a common day laborer in the ruins of Detroit.

What happens next will bring tears of hope to your eyes and you'll share a shout of joy with the young folk of Africa. Rodriguez's music is simple, rich and direct. No mistaking his meaning or intent. And as you read the lyrics remember that this song, Establishment Blues, was written about Detroit in the late 1960s …

This is not a song; its an outburst -

Establishment Blues -

The mayor hides the crime rate
council woman hesitates
Public gets irate but forget the vote date
Weatherman complaining, predicted sun, it's raining
Everyone's protesting, boyfriend keeps suggesting
you're not like all of the rest.

Garbage ain't collected, women ain't protected
Politicians using people, they've been abusing
The mafia's getting bigger, like pollution in the river
And you tell me that this is where it's at.

Woke up this moming with an ache in my head
Splashed on my clothes as I spilled out of bed
Opened the window to listen to the news
But all I heard was the Establishment's Blues.

Gun sales are soaring, housewives find life boring
Divorce the only answer smoking causes cancer
This system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune
And that's a concrete cold fact.

The pope digs population, freedom from taxation
Teeny Bops are up tight, drinking at a stoplight
Miniskirt is flirting I can't stop so I'm hurting
Spinster sells her hopeless chest.

Adultery plays the kitchen, bigot cops non-fiction
The little man gets shafted, sons and monies drafted
Living by a time piece, new war in the far east.
Can you pass the Rorschach test?

In this 'revolutionary' political season, you will be as inspired as South Africans were all those decades ago. Whether you feel the Bern or side with The Donald, you need to see this film!

I saw it this weekend on LINK TV and it is available for rent or purchase on Amazon.com, youtube.com, sonyclassics, dailymotion.com, yify.tv and others.