This one was put on my watchlist for winning the Oscar for Best Documentary last year. It is also an unusual documentary in that spoilers will severely diminish the pleasure of watching it. This forces me to proceed more cautiously than usual in writing about it.

The person central to this documentary is a mysterious American musician named Rodriguez who released two albums in the early 1970s. His producers, who signed him on based on his shows in seedy bars in Detroit, expected great things from him but the albums failed to sell. For all intents and purposes, his musical career stalled before it ever got going, Rodriguez dropped off the face of the Earth.

Except however in South Africa, where the two albums sky-rockets in popularity among the white population until Rodriguez becomes a household name. “Bigger than Elvis Presley” one commentator proclaims. Yet Rodriguez is seemingly unaware of his unlooked-for success in South Africa, which was at that time isolated from the rest of the world due to apartheid, and his South Africans fans in turn knew nothing of him except for a photograph of him on an album cover. Indeed, rumours abound that he has dramatically killed himself.

This documentary then is the story of two dedicated South African fans who make it their personal quest to find out who Rodriguez really is and what happened to him. It turns out to be very much a case of the truth being stranger than fiction and the quest eventually changes the lives of just about everyone involved.

I’d risk spoiling the end by saying that it is incredibly obvious why the Academy picked this as their favourite documentary. This is exactly the kind of feel-good story that gets showered with Oscars. At the same time, there’s no denying that this is a good story that deserves to be heard and director Malik Bendjelloul tells the story well. In fact, this documentary feels more like a movie with how it opens by portraying Rodriguez as this mysterious person in the streets of Detroit, builds the excitement with his incredible success in South Africa and ends in a fantastic climax. It’s probably why this documentary has been both a commercial as well as a critical success. It helps that Rodriguez’s music is genuinely good and makes for a natural soundtrack for this documentary.

Still, even while watching this I felt that it left too much out. It tries too hard to forge a myth around Rodriguez and we all know that in reality no one can be perfect heroes. I also felt uneasy about how the scenes of huge crowds of screaming South African fans were all whites with not a single black face to be seen. I would have felt better if this had been explicitly addressed at some point in the film. And after watching the film, just casually browsing for information unearthed details that seriously undermines the myth and the mystery that the documentary tries so hard to build. I don’t begrudge the director his effort at making his work more appealing but I find it difficult to forgive a documentary for being less than completely truthful.

So my verdict: very entertaining and well put together documentary but ultimately a rather shallow one as well. Still worth watching if only for the tunes however!