Selling people on a documentary is hard enough; selling people on a nearly three-hour documentary about two inner-city young men who have to struggle against their environments in order to achieve their dream of the NBA? That's damned near impossible. But if there was ever a film that deserved to be watched, it'sHoop Dreams, which lives up to every bit of acclaim I've heard it given and then some. Over the course of nearly five years, we watch these two young men - Arthur Agree and William Gates - as they get recruited from an inner-city basketball court, enroll in a private school that's looking for talent, and spend the next four years dealing with grades, absent fathers, family crises, and, of course, basketball. But at its core,Hoop Dreams is less about the sport and more about the way it might provide these young men a way out of their lives. As we become invested in the details of their home lives - as one boy's father returns, for example, only to essentially be absent due to drugs, or as one family struggles to even keep the lights on - Hoop Dreams teaches us what it's truly like to grow up in some place like this and just how difficult it can be to get out. From the inequality inherent in so many school systems to the casual evils of classism to the drama inherent in high school sports, Hoop Dreams packs in so much material that it would be enough for nearly half a dozen great films. Instead, though, what we get may be one of the all-time great films, documenting a slice of American life and truly connecting us with the hopes and dreams of these two young men, and making us care more and more about every bounce of the ball and every cruel twist of fate, all without ever making for a mawkish or overly sentimental film. Indeed, Hoop Dreams does its best to simply document, and let the moments speak for themselves, be they a quiet celebration as one boy's mother passes her certification test or the pain of a doctor writing off someone's season. It's a truly remarkable film, and I'd be hard pressed to argue that it's not one of the all-time great documentaries, if not one of the all-time great films.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
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