Saw Sugar today in Reno. It is a wonderful, well done story about a young man from the Dominican Republic, his dream to pitch for the NY Yankees, and coping with the reality of life in the US. It is a very human story very well acted. The hero, named Miguel, has grown up poor with his mother, grandmother and a sister and brother, his father having been killed when he was very young. His family has focused on his ability as a baseball player since his youth and his chances to make it from a training camp in the Dominican Republic to the major leagues in the US. His special ability is to be their ticket out of poverty and provides hope for a better life for his younger sister and brother.

He is picked up and sent to a minor league class A team in Iowa as a starting pitcher. These young kids from 3rd world families are placed with American families who care for them, drive them to games, etc. Ge is placed with an elderly couple who are baseball fans on a farm in rural Iowa, some distance from the town where he is to play. The old couple are well-intentioned, very religious, nice and have an extended family that tries to help him fit in.

However, as much as he is initially quite successful as a pitcher, his loneliness and his missing his family, girlfriend and culture begin to take their toll. When a fellow Dominican is sent back home for underperformance and being injured, he begins to lose heart, especially when he is also injured.

What will he do? How will he cope? Is he mature enough yet to cope? Film tells the story of so many young boys from 3rd world countries in this hemisphere who see their skill as baseball players as their ticket out of poverty. Particularly it shows the pressure these kids are under from their family's saviour.

I shall not give it away. But the story does take a surprising twist as the kid does eventually find his own way.

Excellent, quiet, moving film. Do not miss it.