I first saw Hoop Dreams 5 years ago, mainly because Siskel and Ebert both considered it to be the best movie of 1994. (Roger Ebert would later call it the best movie of the entire 1990s.) Had I been on their show, that would have been a 3-way tie. I owe them my most sincere thanks for recommending it so highly, as I may have never seen it otherwise.
To be honest, I was not a fan of documentaries at the time. I'm a bit more open to them now, but I wasn't as much then. And I have no interest whatsoever in sports. So imagine my shock that Hoop Dreams is not only one of my favorite documentaries, but it is also one of my absolute favorite movies of all time.
The documentary, filmed in real time, follows 2 black teens in Chicago- William Gates and Arthur Agee. They are great basketball players and dream of one day making the NBA. To achieve their goal, they have to get a scholarship at a Catholic high school.
This is not easy for these boys. Their families are not wealthy, and their parents sometimes struggle to pay for their tuition, let alone their bills. (In one scene, The Agees lose their power. According to IMDB, the filmmakers pitched in budget money to pay for it.) One boy becomes a teen father. And among other obstacles, sometimes their parents can't afford tuition and the struggling kid is temporarily sent back to public school.
However, Hoop Dreams is full of triumphs for Arthur and William as well. They get through high school. They pass the SAT after numerous tries. Arthur Agee is one of the few people in his family to see his 18th birthday.
The parents also have triumphs throughout. One of the mothers manages to get a nursing degree despite their financial struggles, and Arthur's father overcomes a drug addiction and regrets leaving the family for a year.
These twists and turns and triumphs make Hoop Dreams more exciting than most fiction films. And it's more heartfelt as a result. Seeing these obstacles overcome actually made me teary eyed by the end.
In fact, upon my 2nd viewing (I've seen it 3 times now), I was at a trade school and facing growing up a little bit. That made the movie feel more personal, particularly the end when the boys go to college.
As I said before, Siskel and Ebert both considered Hoop Dreams to be the best movie of 1994, and I would agree. The famous film critics were shocked that Hoop Dreams was not nominated for Best Documentary, let alone Best Picture.
It was later discovered that the documentary voters of the Academy wanted to protect smaller films. It was nominated for Best Editing (that went/lost to Forrest Gump, which also got Best Picture), but it was cheated in the Documentary category.
Luckily, the Documentary Branch was reformed after this (the trivia page has more on this controversy), however that doesn't make up for the injustice of snubbing Hoop Dreams. There was talk of a re-vote possibly happening as a result, but it sadly never occurred.
Hoop Dreams is a special film, not just because it's a drama in documentary form, but because of the story that the drama tells. It speaks to anyone who has had a dream and would inspire anyone to continue in them. You don't need any interest in sports to see that.
As a film buff, I strive for movies that speak to me, and inspire me in some way. Even half a decade after my first viewing, Hoop Dreams is one of those movies. Again, I have no interest in sports, but this movie moved me in a way that most fiction films do not. Hoop Dreams is a prime example of why I love movies.
PS: Steve James, who directed Hoop Dreams, was so honored by Roger Ebert's praise for the film that he later directed the documentary on his life- Life Itself. I highly recommend that movie as well.
EDIT: 2/21/23: I'm a Lutheran and I want to give something up for Lent- I actually never have before. I was originally going to write Christian/Biblical movie reviews for all of Lent, but instead I am going to log out and give up movie reviews for Lent. I will continue after Easter, please enjoy my previous reviews in the meantime! Thank you!
To be honest, I was not a fan of documentaries at the time. I'm a bit more open to them now, but I wasn't as much then. And I have no interest whatsoever in sports. So imagine my shock that Hoop Dreams is not only one of my favorite documentaries, but it is also one of my absolute favorite movies of all time.
The documentary, filmed in real time, follows 2 black teens in Chicago- William Gates and Arthur Agee. They are great basketball players and dream of one day making the NBA. To achieve their goal, they have to get a scholarship at a Catholic high school.
This is not easy for these boys. Their families are not wealthy, and their parents sometimes struggle to pay for their tuition, let alone their bills. (In one scene, The Agees lose their power. According to IMDB, the filmmakers pitched in budget money to pay for it.) One boy becomes a teen father. And among other obstacles, sometimes their parents can't afford tuition and the struggling kid is temporarily sent back to public school.
However, Hoop Dreams is full of triumphs for Arthur and William as well. They get through high school. They pass the SAT after numerous tries. Arthur Agee is one of the few people in his family to see his 18th birthday.
The parents also have triumphs throughout. One of the mothers manages to get a nursing degree despite their financial struggles, and Arthur's father overcomes a drug addiction and regrets leaving the family for a year.
These twists and turns and triumphs make Hoop Dreams more exciting than most fiction films. And it's more heartfelt as a result. Seeing these obstacles overcome actually made me teary eyed by the end.
In fact, upon my 2nd viewing (I've seen it 3 times now), I was at a trade school and facing growing up a little bit. That made the movie feel more personal, particularly the end when the boys go to college.
As I said before, Siskel and Ebert both considered Hoop Dreams to be the best movie of 1994, and I would agree. The famous film critics were shocked that Hoop Dreams was not nominated for Best Documentary, let alone Best Picture.
It was later discovered that the documentary voters of the Academy wanted to protect smaller films. It was nominated for Best Editing (that went/lost to Forrest Gump, which also got Best Picture), but it was cheated in the Documentary category.
Luckily, the Documentary Branch was reformed after this (the trivia page has more on this controversy), however that doesn't make up for the injustice of snubbing Hoop Dreams. There was talk of a re-vote possibly happening as a result, but it sadly never occurred.
Hoop Dreams is a special film, not just because it's a drama in documentary form, but because of the story that the drama tells. It speaks to anyone who has had a dream and would inspire anyone to continue in them. You don't need any interest in sports to see that.
As a film buff, I strive for movies that speak to me, and inspire me in some way. Even half a decade after my first viewing, Hoop Dreams is one of those movies. Again, I have no interest in sports, but this movie moved me in a way that most fiction films do not. Hoop Dreams is a prime example of why I love movies.
PS: Steve James, who directed Hoop Dreams, was so honored by Roger Ebert's praise for the film that he later directed the documentary on his life- Life Itself. I highly recommend that movie as well.
EDIT: 2/21/23: I'm a Lutheran and I want to give something up for Lent- I actually never have before. I was originally going to write Christian/Biblical movie reviews for all of Lent, but instead I am going to log out and give up movie reviews for Lent. I will continue after Easter, please enjoy my previous reviews in the meantime! Thank you!