The prospect of a three hour film is pretty daunting to begin with. The prospect of a three hour documentary can be even moreso (that is, if it's not in a serialized form). It's a lot of time to set aside in a day. Fortunately, I lucked into a significant chunk of free time after my trip back East and utilized Netflix' Instant View for this purpose.
I only knew vagaries about Hoop Dreams: that if followed the lives of two high schoolers hoping to play professional basketball. I don't really care for basketball and I know many people who don't care for sports in general, so there is a certain amount of trepidation regarding the subject matter. However, the Hoop Dreams, like any great documentary, offers so much more than what it's about on the surface.It follows Willam Gates and Arthur Agee through four years of high school. The former at a revered Catholic powerhouse and the latter at an inner city school (although he was briefly at the powerhouse). There are a lot of ups and downs with each of the boys and their families and Hoop Dreams comments quite a bit on how the system does or does not work for struggling families. The most striking aspect of the film for me, though, is how much luck acts as a driving force in all of our lives.
Hoop Dreams is absolutely enthralling throughout, though oddly, the basketball scenes are generally pretty dull. You can attribute that mostly to the narrator who narrates with a dry monotone, but it actually doesn't harm the action on screen because you are so invested in these kids.
I really want to get the Criterion DVD because it has a commentary featuring Gates and Agee and I would love to hear what they have to say and how their lives panned out. It's not often one gets to relive a huge chunk of one's life like this and it'd be interesting to hear their perspective on their former outlook on life (I suspect not working harder in school is one regret).
Finally, Hoop Dreams gave me a much greater appreciation for the following Mr. Show sketch:
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