Hoop Dreams, the domestic ethnographic documentary film by Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx follows two inner-city teenage boys, Arthur Agee and William Gates over the course of their high school years. Despite having similar dreams of playing the NBA, life circumstances plot them along two different paths with William receiving extra care and attention from his school coaches and teachers, and Arthur more or less being left to his own devices. The film offers a mirror reflection of growing up in the shadow of a mountain of obstacles. Poverty, family problems, acedemic pressures and athletic competitiveness all weigh down on Arthur and William. I’m fascinated thinking about how much the shooting of the film would have played a part in the decisions that the boys made, the actions of others around them and in the end, where they have ended up today. This is a really great film.
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