Each winter, dozens of American baseball players — mostly minor- and major-league 'tweeners looking for an edge — head to Venezuela to hone their skills on professional teams comprised largely of native players. And each winter these importados confront the culture-clashing challenges of unfamiliar food, low-rent facilities, gnarly playing fields, and rowdy fans that test their collective nerve in ways that a Roger Clemens heater never will. For the 1992-93 season, all-star baseball documentarian Nathan Kaufman (Minor Leagues — Major Dreams) hung out with the Americans playing for the Cardenales de Lara of Barquisimeto, recording their personal and collective crises (including two games called on account of a coup attempt). He returns with a tellingly unpretentious locker-room home movie of serious, career-on-the-line ballplayers feeling very far from home.
Entertainment Weekly Grade A