Day 92: Hoop Dreams

"People always say to me, 'when you get to the NBA, don't forget about me.' Well, I should've said back, 'if I don't make it to the NBA, don't you forget about me.'"

I decided it might be a little interesting to switch things up again this week. For my last three reviews, I've done a comedy (High Fidelity), an action/adventure epic (Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), and a drama (American Beauty). I thought it would be a good idea to continue the type of variety my readers have possibly come to expect. Thus, this week's post focuses on a documentary, 1994's Hoop Dreams. This film follows two young Illionoisan boys through their high school years as they focus on their dream - getting recruited by a top college and eventually playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

On the surface, Hoop Dreams is just what I described - a documentary about two young kids, Arthur Agee and William Gates, who have a typical childhood dream - playing in the NBA. However, it's clear as it goes on that this film is broader in scope, maybe even more than the filmmakers (director Steve James and producers Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx) originally intended. It started out as a thirty minute long short that was going to air on PBS. However, they followed two of the boys home, and what begun as a thirty minute short turned into a three hour documentary. Over 250 hours of raw footage over 8 (!) years was shot of the boys and their families, and it cost almost eight million dollars to fully shoot.

What was supposed to be a simple short eventually became a startling look into the American life and values. Arthur Agee is from a relatively poor household and struggles to commute almost ninety minutes to the school he is recruited to - famous basketball school St. Joseph High School, where legend Isaiah Thomas (and NBA rookie Evan Turner) played. His father gets involved with drugs, and there's a constant pressure on him to succeed where his parents failed, and make a lot of money to have a good life. Eventually he gets kicked out of the school and has to become a star on a lower-class high school, one in the "ghetto." The contrast between the two schools is readily apparent - one school is high class and a little uptight, the other is slightly lower-class looking. William Gates ends up going to St. Joseph's as well, but stays at the school. He performs well, but struggles with a knee injury and deciding which college he wants to go to.

The scope of the documentary is just amazing. You feel like you get to know Gates, Agee, and their families and friends through this eight year long journey through their lives. It's incredibly interesting to see their development over time - and there's really no better "character" development than the changing of personalities, ideas and dreams in real life as opposed to a scripted film. It does a great job at showing the obstacles of life, the successes and failures. It really is a wonderful journey full of emotional ups and downs that you don't always get in documentaries, and worth the long running time. Even if you don't like basketball or sports, I'd still recommend it - because in the end, it's just about life. Check it out - I believe it's on Netflix Instant Streaming if you're subscribed to the service.