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There are five seconds left on the clock, and your team is down by one. Beads of sweat drip down your forehead and splatter on the gymnasium floor. The basket stands ten feet away. There’s nothing between you and the basket except for air. You release the ball off your fingertips. It floats, almost dream-like, through the air toward the hoop. If you miss, you lose the state championship. Make it, you force overtime. Pressure-filled moments like these, both on and off the court, make the Oscar-nominated documentary Hoop Dreams both thrilling and moving.
Hoop Dreams follows two inner-city kids—William Gates, a basketball prodigy, and Arthur Agee, a troubled but talented player—during their four years of high school. For both players, their main goal is simple: attain a college scholarship for basketball.
Gates starts right away as a star on the varsity squad, while Agee begins as a point guard for the junior varsity team. The action on the court is plentiful, showing both young players’ growth throughout the film, with locker room halftime speeches, crowd reaction, and nail biting finishes highlighting the on-court action. However, the documentary also goes way beyond the basketball court, showing the family lives of both players. You’ll feel the weight of the players’ personal lives as Agee’s family’s power is turned off and as Gates’s older brother incessantly pressures him. But the hardships that both boys must overcome, from injuries to poor grades, only make you root for them more.
For any sports fan, this film is an absolute must-see. It has all the high-flying dunks, behind the back dribbles, and famous player cameos that a basketball zealot would salivate over. There are plenty of action-packed basketball games to balance out the kids’ somber family lives, but the connection between family and basketball is shown throughout, adding to the tension of the boys’ already pressured lives. And, thanks to impeccable editing (which earned the film its Oscar nomination in 1994), the film stays fresh and entertaining throughout its entire three-hour runtime.
In the past, documentaries and narratives always seemed to be on two separate levels. But Hoop Dreams combines the two together, into what I like to call a “docunarrative.” It’s an emotional journey that shows how hard work and inspiration can make dreams become reality. However, the film isn’t just about two young boys with hard lives who are working for a college scholarship. It’s also about two young boys becoming men. The constant change in emotional flow keeps the film exciting, which is crucial for a three-hour film. And when the movie is over, you’ll be amazed by how a film can put you in someone else’s shoes through four years of his life.
This story of hardship, growth, and perseverance isn’t just a slam-dunk. It’s a behind the back, off the backboard, alley-oop, front flip jam.
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