R.I.P. Malik Bendjelloul: The Real Sugar Man
Malik Bendjelloul, the Oscar-winning director of Searching For Sugar Man, has passed away in Stockholm, according to multiple news reports. Though no cause of death has been given, authorities have said they do not suspect foul play. He was just 36 years of age.
As a South African, Searching For Sugar Man was nothing short of a personal revelation. The subject of the documentary, Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, was a profound musical presence in my formative years, yet never more than a name. Rodriguez simply didn't exist outside of his songs, and a few urban legends. In fact, I confess to thinking, for years, that he was some obscure local musician, lost to the passage of time like so much from 60s and 70s South Africa.
Searching For Sugar Man changed that completely, giving a face and history to one of the seminal figures in progressive South African culture. That we were able to not only discover something about the man behind "our" songs, but rediscover the living legend as well, was a powerful and deeply moving experience. I know many South Africans feel a keen attachment to this documentary, and we are all grateful to Bendjelloul for bringing Rodriguez's story to light.
While the news of any filmmaker's death is a sad affair, it's always particularly affecting when it happens to a young artist just beginning to flourish. Bandjelloul produced, directed, co-wrote and edited Searching For Sugarman, which was his first feature documentary. One can't help but lament the stories we have lost with his passing.
Rodriguez's most beloved song in South Africa is probably Sugar Man. Though written before Bendjelloul's birth, the lyrics became oddly prophetic when the the director brought the story to light. Bendjelloul himself was the real Sugar Man:
Sugar man you're the answerThat makes my questions disappear
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