Directed
By Steve James. Running Time: 165 Minutes
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....
William Gates
Ostensibly,
Steve James' brilliant Hoop Dreams follows six
years in the life of two young African'American basketballers,
William Gates and Arthur Agee, discovered on the playgrounds
of tough, inner'city Chicago, and pursuing their dreams
through high school and into college of one day playing
in the National Basketball Association. But at its core,
this film is not really about basketball, nor is it a
self'indulgent, seemingly endless documentary (though
long it is). Instead, it is about the daily struggles
of race and inequality among the American under'class,
about the intense pressures of expectation, and the perseverance
of hope.
James'
cameras peer into the daily lives of Gates and Agee at school,
on the court, and at home. In over half a decade of filming
with some 250 hours of footage, he was witness to some of
the most dramatic and important events in these young men's
lives. As viewers we are given a unique insight into real
life in an embattled African'American neighbourhood that
extends well beyond the often limited, negative or sensationalised
images regularly seen in the mainstream media. American
reviewer Robert Ebert noted, 'Hoop Dreams contains
more actual information about life as it is lived in poor
black city neighbourhoods than any other film I have ever
seen.'
One
week a family of six live in darkness without power because
they can't afford to pay the energy bill. Another week,
a teenager earning less than $3.35 an hour is robbed at
gunpoint on his way home. Both students at the heart of
this film struggle to perform well academically. On an athletic
scholarship to an elite (and largely all'white) private
school, William's coaches and school administrators 
seem
at times more than willing to let his studies slide so long
as he plays well on the court. In Arthur's case, attending
the severely under'funded Marshall Metropolitan High School,
he is hardly getting the attention or discipline needed
for him to succeed academically. We watch as Arthur's mother
fights to keep her family safe, fed and in full spirits
while she copes with a drug addicted husband, the harsh
limits of welfare support, and attempts, against the odds,
to create a career of her own as a nurse's assistant. In
William, we find a teengaer raised in a single parent home
and whose father only reappears when it seems his son may
hit the big time. He is forced to live out his elder brother's
own failed dreams, and has an entire neighbourhood of expectation
hoping that he might be the one ticket that gets them all
out of the ghetto. Under this kind of pressure there is
no room for injuries, no time to take a break and, increasingly,
no joy left in playing the game.
In
1994 Hoop Dreams won the audience award for best
documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and controversy
surrounding the film's exclusion from the Best Documentary
category at the Academy Awards was such that it changed
the way nominations were voted for that category in the
future. It was discovered that not only were most of the
people voting at the time not documentary filmmakers, but
they had also actually worked against giving Hoop Dreams
a nomination. As a result, the rules were changed so that
documentary filmmakers today now vote in this category.
For
those among you whose documentary viewing began and
ended with Michael Moore's recent efforts or Super
Size Me, Hoop Dreams will be a welcome,
rewarding discovery in your nearest video store.
