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“Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” Film Details

Runtime: 20 Minutes
Release Date: January 30, 2024
Initially Available On/Via: Film Festival – Sundance
Advisory Film Rating: Not Rated
Genre(s): Animation, Biopic, Documentary, Historical
Director(s): Glenn Kaino

Summary

In “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams,” the connection of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. built a coalition through the use of basketball to create community, camaraderie, and an open ear is juxtapositioned next to the rise of Barack Obama in politics through similar methods featuring Ambassador Andrew Young speaking on his work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and various people who worked with Obama, from when he was working at Michelle Obama’s firm to his senate campaign, to his work to become president.

Review

Highlight(s)

Even If You’re Not Big Into Documentaries, This One Could Interest You [89/100]
Showing MLK Jr’s humanity better than any biopic I’ve seen [87/100]
Understanding the baseline appeal that allowed MLK and Obama to flourish and why others likely failed [88/100]

Overall

Our Rating (88/100): Positive (Worth Seeing) – Recommended

Grassroot movements were once a buzzword that entered the zeitgeist as it became clear that being a career politician was more so a mark against you than a badge of honor. But, the word has lost its zest within the media landscape and isn’t heard as much as it was during the Obama years or even with the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That aside, what “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” offers is a reinforced idea of why the system works.

While finding big-money donors is essential, you must get into the communities. You have to build a connection, and while football might be the biggest sport in America, basketball comes close, and unlike football, basketball is much easier to set up for any community. As shown through MLK and Obama, all you need is a net and a ball, which a community center can provide, and it is there you can win over the people by just showing up and not spending a dime.

Now, though the way “Hoops, Hopes, and Dreams” shows how MLK and Obama built up their power and influence is notable and made this into one of the few documentaries we’re likely to cover this year, there is something done here that really helps the short stand out: Bringing in MLK’s humanity. With no disrespect to the various biopics done over the years, in hindsight, there was always an exalted take on MLK that even when they tried to make him seem playful with his kids, still made him out to be untouchable, better than, and give you that elementary school depiction of him of being a good, but bland person.

Ambassador Andrew Young doesn’t draw that picture for us. He reinforces why basketball is one of the perfect ways to build a sense of oneness, for it lends itself to teamwork, establishes a person’s ability to both lead and take direction, reveals someone’s true character and multiple unifying elements, and even with not playing a game with MLK, this might be the first account of him that makes him seem like a normal person who did an extraordinary, world-changing, thing. And honestly, with the way director Glenn Kaino balanced the various storytellers and animation, I would love to see his take on other historical figures and hope “Hoops, Hopes, and Dreams” becomes a staple on PBS or another accessible platform.