Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503230005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Though the subject is basketball, this is really a coming-of-age story about two young black men, William Gates and Arthur Agee. At age 14, they were recruited on the playgrounds of a tough Chicago housing project into a private, predominantly white high school with a well-established basketball program. For the next four years, filmmakers Frederick Marx, Steve James and Peter Gilbert followed their lives on and off the basketball court.
It's a story as compelling, surprising and emotionally rich as any fiction.
The film opens with Arthur and William are watching the NBA All-star game on television. Both of them see the NBA as the way out of poverty for themselves and their families, and St. Joseph's high school is the first step toward it. They enter St. Joe's as promising freshmen, but almost immediately their careers separate and move in different directions.
It would be unfair to reveal any of the details, but over the following four years, Arthur and William experience almost all of the temptations, dangers and changes that teen-agers are exposed to. Injuries, reverses, success, economic setbacks, unstable family life and academics are the key factors.
It's obvious early on that William and Arthur are immensely appealing young men. Despite their athletic abilities, both are rather shy and introspective. Though they change and grow - as everyone does between 14 and 18 - their inherent likability remains.
They maintain it despite pressures most people don't have to deal with until they're older, and that's the real point of the film. Because of their abilities, almost every adult they meet exploits or uses them in one way or another. Coaches, teachers, recruiters, parents, family members and sponsors all have something to gain through Arthur and William. The filmmakers take an even-handed approach and aren't out to create villains, though some fare better than others. It's more difficult to judge how the intrusive presence of cameras, microphones and interviewers influenced Arthur and William.
It must have both helped and hurt them, but no one can accuse the filmmakers of trivializing these young men's lives. Though it takes them almost three hours to cover four years, the action is so involved and interesting that the film doesn't seem that long. By the end of it - when Hollywood conventions give way to reality - there won't be a dry eye in the house.
With the NCAA tournament going on now, it's going to take a lot to get basketball fans away from the tube and into theaters, but "Hoop Dreams" is worth missing a few games to see.
Hoop Dreams
*** 1/2
A New Line release playing at the The Grandin Theatre. 176 min. Rated PG-13 for language.
by CNB