Hoop Dreams is about two promising basketball players and their experiences playing in high school. At the beginning, the two boys get a scholarship to a private school known for having an exceptional basketball program. Even though it requires each of them to take a ninety minute bus ride one way every day, the school presents a huge opportunity for both of the boys; it's much better in practically every way than the lousy under-privileged schools they previously attended.
The film is very restrained in making its point which is something I found odd for a documentary film; I don't watch many films like this but I thought the idea was for the film-makers to make a clear argument rather than present a load of facts and allow the viewer to draw his own conclusions. In any case, it's pretty clear to me that the film is critical of the process that leads these students to be recruited to play basketball at the tender age of 14. It turns out that the scholarship the boys get doesn't cover all expenses and so it proves to be impossible for Arthur Agee, the boy who initially shows less promise, to remain at the school for more than a year. This wreaks havoc on the already pathetic boy who has to deal with his family's extreme poverty due to his father's drug addiction and his mother's health related inability to keep a job. William Gates, the more promising boy, can't afford to pay the fee either but the school finds a sponsor to help him because of his more advanced skills.
Arthur is really the more interesting character here as he is plagued with problems from the get-go and he has to try harder to get anywhere. In addition to his poverty, he has to deal with his father's attempts to live vicariously through his success. He struggles to find his own identity. For a good portion of the film, Arthur tries to copy the success of an NBA star from his area, going so far as to borrow the older man's nickname for his own use.
It struck me that both of these boys weren't paying enough attention to academics or social skills as they both seemed rather immature and ignorant, particularly in terms of their future potential outside of basketball. Their academic failure is also made clear by their struggle to make an 18 on the ACT, a score that is well below the national average.
Hoop Dreams does a good job of telling the story of a little more than four years of the lives of two boys; it's an engrossing enough film to make its three hour run time go by fairly quickly. The film also tells something about the environment promising athletes are thrust into from an early age and how they're sometimes manipulated into spending huge amounts of time doing something that really won't do them much good in life all in the name of making the dream of NBA stardom a reality. I would have liked the film more if it had a bit more context and scope; as it is this work doesn't add up to much more than the story of two individuals when it probably should have said more about the entire system they're immersed in. I also feel that the film-makers should have taken a stand and made some attempt to analyze the story they told, their refusal to do so looks like a combination of laziness and cowardice to me. Still, Hoop Dreams does enough right to make it a worthwhile viewing experience.
The film is very restrained in making its point which is something I found odd for a documentary film; I don't watch many films like this but I thought the idea was for the film-makers to make a clear argument rather than present a load of facts and allow the viewer to draw his own conclusions. In any case, it's pretty clear to me that the film is critical of the process that leads these students to be recruited to play basketball at the tender age of 14. It turns out that the scholarship the boys get doesn't cover all expenses and so it proves to be impossible for Arthur Agee, the boy who initially shows less promise, to remain at the school for more than a year. This wreaks havoc on the already pathetic boy who has to deal with his family's extreme poverty due to his father's drug addiction and his mother's health related inability to keep a job. William Gates, the more promising boy, can't afford to pay the fee either but the school finds a sponsor to help him because of his more advanced skills.
Arthur is really the more interesting character here as he is plagued with problems from the get-go and he has to try harder to get anywhere. In addition to his poverty, he has to deal with his father's attempts to live vicariously through his success. He struggles to find his own identity. For a good portion of the film, Arthur tries to copy the success of an NBA star from his area, going so far as to borrow the older man's nickname for his own use.
It struck me that both of these boys weren't paying enough attention to academics or social skills as they both seemed rather immature and ignorant, particularly in terms of their future potential outside of basketball. Their academic failure is also made clear by their struggle to make an 18 on the ACT, a score that is well below the national average.
Hoop Dreams does a good job of telling the story of a little more than four years of the lives of two boys; it's an engrossing enough film to make its three hour run time go by fairly quickly. The film also tells something about the environment promising athletes are thrust into from an early age and how they're sometimes manipulated into spending huge amounts of time doing something that really won't do them much good in life all in the name of making the dream of NBA stardom a reality. I would have liked the film more if it had a bit more context and scope; as it is this work doesn't add up to much more than the story of two individuals when it probably should have said more about the entire system they're immersed in. I also feel that the film-makers should have taken a stand and made some attempt to analyze the story they told, their refusal to do so looks like a combination of laziness and cowardice to me. Still, Hoop Dreams does enough right to make it a worthwhile viewing experience.