Film Review: Hoop Dreams

Director: Steve James

A 1994 documentary film that was originally only planned to be a 30 minute short segment on American TV but once the film makers compiled the work they had they realised they had a much bigger story to tell. Hoop Dreams also came to prominence off the back of the Oscar voting scandal where some voters only gave the films they liked a full ten out of ten and gave everything else zero, so far as not even watching certain films like this one. After the results were released during an inquiry it was found that Hoop Dreams received the highest number of 10 marks but came 6th in voting due to the number of zeroes it received from voters engaging in the vote rigging.

The film follows two young African-Americans called William Gates and Arthur Agee who are recruited on the basketball courts in inner city Chicago to play for St. Josephs High School in Westchester. A school which is mostly white but has a prestigious basketball team and the boys school fees are paid for by boosters of the basketball team. We follow their journey through high school as they release there is a lot more to making it to college on a scholarship than just playing basketball.

Arthur Agee attemps a free throw

Since the release of this film, there has been numerous films and documentaries about people who have a hard life growing up in America. The book Friday Night Lights touched upon many of the same issues as addressed here but until the film and subsequent TV series came out it didn't gain quite as much traction. In the meantime Hoop Dreams showed the plight of poor inner city children having just one hope to escape the poverty that is all around them or to escape the life of crime that so many end up choosing. Many films documenting about the struggles of the poor in America don't do as good a job as this sports documentary about getting to the issue of the problem.

The two young men who play Basketball with the hopes of making it to the NBA slowly learn that Basketball isn't the only thing in their lives and isn't the only thing that will get them into college, against a backdrop of politics and money. It is beautifully crafted film where the film makers have no input into whats happening, they just observe without casting any judgements which is exactly what documentary makers should be doing.

3.5/4 An epic that is about more than just basketball, its about life in America