Blog Post #3:

Watching Hoop Dreams, 1994 American Documentary Film

Directed By: Steve James

Written By: Steve James and Frederick Marx

Produced By: Kartemquin Films

Winter Break

 

Some say that “Hoop Dreams” is the most powerful movie about sports ever made, (The Washington Post). It is one of the most critically acclaimed documentaries, winning awards from the Sundance Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Academy Award for Best Editing. While doing research for our social justice project, we came across this amazing true story and thought it was a perfect fit for our topic. This film is an example of cinema verite, which is a style of filmmaking that is realistic and doesn’t use a lot of equipment. The movie addresses race and class issues and is a critique of the system that is failing many of our country’s kids. I had never seen a movie like this before. It was so moving for me because it was about boys my age and basketball, but it isn’t just about basketball, it’s about so much more. You don’t often find the life and struggles of African American boys being portrayed in the mass media, unless it’s a story in the headlines because they are being shot by cops. While watching the movie, I thought it was interesting how the story cut back and forth between two families living in inner-city Chicago. These families had two things in common, they didn’t have a lot of money, and they both had a son going into high school, who maybe had the chance to make it to the NBA. One of the kids was a bit better, bigger, and faster than the other one, his name was William Gates. The other teenager was named Arthur Agee. They were both recruited on scholarship to attend the wealthy, suburban St. Joseph’s High School. William started on varsity as a freshman, while Arthur was still on JV. While at the school, William and Arthur bonded and supported each other during many hardships. Unfortunately, neither William nor Arthur was actually drafted to the NBA, but they used the money and fame from this documentary to provide for their families. What was amazing about this film was that these boys were not actors. The story of their lives was so real, I sometimes forgot it was a documentary and that’s what made it all the more heartbreaking. Even though they didn’t make it to the highest level, the movie showed how important sports are to kids and young adults. This movie reinforced my desire to do more research about kids in my own city and to try to find ways to work with them through sports. The documentary also highlighted the importance of videography in the learning process, something that we would like to use in our presentation.