I really needed to see this after The Invisible War. It reminded me that there are still good people out in the world. I know that sounds lame, but trust me. This movie will make you want to be a better person.In the early 70's, a musician known as Rodriguez released two critically-praised albums in the US that were commerical flops. For whatever reason, they just didn't sell and he was dropped from his label.
Thousands of miles away in South Africa, a copy of his first album, Cold Facts, ignited a musical revolution. At the height of apartheid, no foreign acts were allowed to visit South Africa and it was hard to get any real news out of the country either. Cold Facts went on to sell at least a half million copies, and that's just the legal number. God knows how many bootleg albums there were. Rodriguez was bigger than Elvis, but nobody knew anything about him. There were wild rumors that he had committed suicide on stage or died of a drug overdose, but nobody knew the truth.
Then, in the mid-90's, a journalist and a record store owner banded together and decided to track down what had happened to their idol. After tracking the royalties to a dead end, it seemed like all hope was gone. It wasn't until the artist's daughter reached out to them via a web forum that they got anywhere.
The documentary features a soundtrack composed entirely of Rodriguez songs and I have no idea why they weren't more popular. After all the buzz this has gotten, I would not be surprised to learn they're having a renaissance.
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