Hoop Dreams (1994, USA)

Director

Steve James

Cast

William Gates, Arthur Agee, Gene Pingatore, the Agee and Gates families

Screenplay

N/A

Format

Live action, documentary

Language

English

Running time

100 minutes

Classification

Exempt from classification

Distributor

Cinema Club

Genre

Documentary

Setting

Chicago, late 1980s/early 1990s

Main characters

Arthur Agee and William Grace

Narrative focus

Arthur Agee and William Grace, their families and their coach, Gene Pingatore

Synopsis

The film follows William and Arthur, two young teenagers with a gift for playing basketball. The film documents their efforts to pursue careers from their homes in Chicago. Income, educational ability and upbringing are all shown to affect the chances of the boys as they train and then pursue college scholarships in the hopes of finally playing in the NBA. The film also documents the lives and reactions to the boys of their families. The basketball becomes secondary to the film's consideration of social and economic issues.

Background

Hoop Dreams took seven years to make and was first screened in 1994 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was shot on Betacam video, not film, and is part of a strong tradition of socially engaged documentary work based in Chicago. As a documentary, there are no actors as such, just the subjects. The project was initially presented to Chicago-based film company Kartemquin as a short film about Chicago's playground courts. Eventually, filming on the project expanded with the discovery of William Gates and Arthur Agee, and the filmmakers accumulated 250 hours of video footage. It took two years to edit this down to make the film. The film went on to critical accolades and awards.

Commentary

Hoop Dreams, although a documentary, is like a novel, structured around compelling individuals. The film begins by introducing us to the main characters, their goals are established and we see their environments. We see the two main characters in the privacy of their homes as well as at schools and games, which creates a real intimacy and sympathy with them.

The film is about ambitions, and pursuing those ambitions. Basketball is one of America's most high profile and profitable sports, and becoming a successful basketball player is an ambition of many young Americans. The big basketball matches at the end are the climax of the story and carry a dramatic weight that makes them exciting to watch. The contrast between the boys' neighbourhoods and the suburban world of St Joseph's where they train and develop allow us to reflect on some of the issues William Gates and Arthur Agee have to deal with in achieving their ambitions.

Also recommended

He Got Game (US, 1998) – one of Spike Lee's best films, about the relationship between a father and son, filtered through their passion for basketball. The father is released from prison for one week to convince his son to sign up with the state governor's favourite college on a basketball scholarship.

Also see When We Were Kings and Muhammed Ali.

Teaching suggestions (Key Stage 4, age 14-16)

Citizenship focus

• The legal and human rights and responsibilities underpinning society
• The importance of a free press, and the media's role in society in providing information and affecting opinion
• The rights and responsibilities of consumers, employers and employees.

Subject link

Geography: a city in the USA

PE: the role of sport in achieving success

Freeze frame

Pause the video on the long shot of Arthur's father buying drugs outside the basketball court.

• Do you think that this scene was reconstructed or on-the-spot footage?
• How does the documentary status of the film affect your understanding and response to this scene?
• What are the risks of including this scene for both the filmmakers and the participants?
• How does the film show the importance of a free press and how the media can provide information and affect opinion?

Sound and image

Watch the sequence when William is at the Nike camp, with the sound turned down.

• What might be a typical sports commentary for this sequence?

Now watch the sequence with the sound up.

• Who is speaking in the voiceover?
• What information does the voiceover add?
• What kind of music accompanies the shots of the basketball game?
• What do you notice about the music when William falls down injured?
• How does the voiceover seem ironic in retrospect?
• What does the sequence suggest about luck versus talent in basketball and life?

Spot the shots

Watch any of the tracking shots of Arthur walking in his neighbourhood. Discuss:

• Why do you think the filmmakers chose these locations?
• What is the effect of this camera movement on your understanding of Arthur's career prospects?
• Watch the scene where William is injured and sitting on the bench watching his team.
• How is the shot framed?
• What kind of camera movement is used when the team wins?
• How does the camera style emphasise William's separation from the team?
• How else is William different from his team mates?
• What effect do you think this had on his career prospects?

Generic translation

Watch any of the college basketball sequences with the sound down. Then watch the scene again with the sound up and ask students how the voiceover and sound effects/music added meaning to the sequence. Ask students to imagine that they are television sports commentators and record their 'live' commentary to accompany the images of the game.

• How does the soundtrack add to the idea that the game of football similar to the 'game of life'?
• How does the soundtrack make the players seem more like heroes and villains in a fictional narrative?

Discussion

The following questions can be used as a starting point to focus discussion before generalising the issues that the film raises.

• At the beginning of the film, which character did you predict would fulfil his 'Hoop Dream'?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of Arthur's situation?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of William's situation?
• What is the main barrier to Arthur's professional basketball career?
• What is the main barrier to William's professional basketball career?
• How is the spectacle of a basketball game similar to a gripping storyline?
• Why do you think the documentary makers decided to focus on two young basketball players instead of just one main character?
• How does this documentary expose the importance of money in the school system?
• How does this documentary expose the importance of money in the basketball circuit?
• What effect does psychology have on the players' performances?
• What effect does chance have on the result?
• What is the 'American Dream' and how does this film comment on its realities?

Practical production work

Using Hoop Dreams as a model, ask students in groups, to create a dramatic video narrative, which explores how sport can be used to promote social change or equal opportunity. They will need to think about how they will set the scene, introduce their main 'characters', build in some suspense and surprises before reaching a climax, using camera work and voiceover.