Analysis on Hoop Dreams

This documentary chronicled the lives of two young basketball players—William Gates and Arthur Agee—who had dreams of making it into the NBA. The filmmaker used various techniques to develop this story over a five-year period, exposing the reality of the hardships that poor, black families faced in Chicago, Illinois.

A film like "Hoop Dreams" is what the movies are for. It takes us, shakes us, and make us think in new ways about the world around us. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself.

"Hoop Dreams" is, on one level, a documentary about two African-American kids named William Gates and Arthur Agee, from Chicago's inner city, who are gifted basketball players and dream of someday starring in the NBA. On another level, it is about much larger subjects: about ambition, competition, race and class in our society. About our value structures. And about the daily lives of people like the Agee and Gates families, who are usually invisible in the mass media, but have a determination and resiliency that is a cause for hope.