The celebrated documentary from director Steve James, Hoop Dreams follows two young boys trying to take their basketball game from the inner-city streets of Chicago to the NBA.
We see them progress through their entire high school basketball careers and into their early college years, all the while tackling issues endemic to inner city youth: racism, academic exploitation, poverty, absent fathers, and gang life. And as such the film stands out as a complex and astute examination of the African-American experience.
With the all-powerful image of Michael Jordan presiding over the film, Hoop Dreams exposes the way in which basketball has become the dominant force in the lives of so many African-American young men, who rely on their athletic skills to rise above the poverty surrounding them in a society that values only what these boys can do on the court.
The film brilliantly elucidates a journey of lost innocence where the casualties of a game mean much more than simply losing on the court. This is a film about sports and its a film about American life.
Released 1994. Director: Steve James.
