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Rise: Another Disney Slam Dunk

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Perhaps some of the more unsung heroes of Disney’s cinematic canon are their inspirational sports stories.

While they’re primarily known for their animated features, nature documentaries and fantasy-adventure films, Disney has always been able to find inspirational stories in the world of sports. Without even scratching the surface of their vault, films like Remember the Titans, Miracle, Queen of Katwe and Glory Road have become classic tales of young people who have been changed by the experience of competition (and even, in some cases, have changed the world as well).

Rise fits very neatly into this tradition. 

(L-R): Yetide Badaki as Vera and Dayo Okeniyi as Charles in Disney’s live-action RISE, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Set primariliy in Greece, Rise tells the amazing true story of the Antetokounmpo brothers who came out of obscurity to dominate the NBA. When Charles and Vera Antetokounmpo emigrated from Nigeria to Greece, they dreamed of a better life for their family. However, despite their passion for hard work, they struggled to garner citizenship and lived every day under the risk of deportation. Living from paycheque to paycheque, their children found solace on public basketball courts. Although they had no experience playing the game, the Antetokounmpo boys soon discovered their natural giftings and looked for ways to use their talents to help their family.

(L-R): Ral Agada as Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Dayo Okeniyi as Charles Antetokounmpo, and Uche Agada as Giannis Antetokounmpo in Disney’s live-action RISE, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Patrick Redmond. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Telling the story of Antetokounmpo brothers and and their ascension to NBA dominance, Rise is an incredible story of resilience that absolutely charms. Directed by Akin Omotoso, the film knows the power of storytelling inherent within the world of sports and uses it to its advantage. Slow motion shots at the buzzer, practice in the rain and battles on the court all bring the action to life with suspense and drama. (Ironically though, the final scenes at the NBA Draft may hold the most solid dramatic tension, even if we already know the outcome.)

Even so, instead of focusing on a particular ‘big game’, Rise primarily spends its time with the Antetokounmpo family as they fight together to survive. As Charles and Vera fight tirelessly to support their family financially, so too do they want to support their children in their dreams. With barely enough money to pay the rent, their boys find their inner spark on the basketball court. Nevertheless, Charles and Vera remain nervous of their endeavours. But their initial apprehension to the boys’ love of basketball is rooted in their desire to protect them from exposure, rather than to selfishly prevent them from enjoyment.

(L-R): Yetide Badaki as Vera and Dayo Okeniyi as Charles in Disney’s live-action RISE, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

And the fear of exposure is justified.

Due to their undocumented status, the Antetokounmpo family lived under a constant dread. Having witnessed the police tear immigrant families apart themselves, they understood the risks of being discovered. While Charles and Vera fought to make their residency legal, they simply continue to run up against an endless stream of roadblocks and red tape. Unable to find work without legal status (and unable to get legal status without work), they are only able to make ends meet by selling sunglasses to tourists and taking on odd jobs. In this way, the film highlights issues that are far greater than whether or not Giannis understands his basketball fundamentals. Instead, Rise cries out for the poor and impoverished who are attempting to start new lives in a foreign country. 

Interestingly, there’s also a deeply rooted faith that strengthens the Antetokounmpo family as well. Despite everything that they’ve gone through, Giannis‘s mother holds fast to her belief that God has a plan. (“God makes no mistakes. Give it your all and let God do his work,” Vera encourages.) To her, even the darkest of moments can provide blessings by the end and this gives them boundless hope throughout the process.

In some ways, it’s a shame that Rise has gone straight to Disney+. With its passionate heart, incredible story and solid performances, this is a film that actually deserves to be recognized onscreen as opposed to an unknown property that people scroll past while looking for Pixar material. With an eye on justice, Rise inspires with joy and enthusiasm that should please the whole family. Quite simply, there is an affectionate heart within this film which is contagious.

In other words, it is definitely a slam dunk.

A scene still from Disney’s live-action RISE, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Rise is available on Disney+ on Friday, June 24th, 2022

This Year’s Oscar Nominated Short Docs

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Short films can be good training for future filmmakers, or they can be an artform in themselves. Each year the Academy awards Oscars to three short films: Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, and Best Documentary (Short Subject). The nominees for these categories come from around the world and represent excellence, just as all the other films nominated for Oscars do. Each year, prior to the awards, there are programs of the short films that play in select theaters around the country. To see where you can catch one or more of these programs, check Shorts.tv.

The category of Best Documentary (Short Subject) is probably the shorts category that is most available to viewers in that many of these films stream or have played on public TV. Here is my take of the films nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject) this year.

Audible. (40 minutes, USA). A football player and his friends at the Maryland School for the Deaf struggle with the end of a winning streak, the suicide of a friend, relationships, and facing going into the world. Director Matt Ogens gives us a coming-of-age story that is at once universal and specific. For more on this film, see my review from its Netflix release. Audible is available to stream on Netflix.

Lead Me Home. (40 minutes, USA). Homelessness has reached emergency proportions in many places. Directors Pedro Kos and John Shenk takes us to L.A., San Francisco, and Seattle to see into some of the encampments and shelters and to meet a few of the unhoused people and hear their stories and struggles. On any given night, half a million people in America experience homelessness. The film is a good way of putting these people in front of us. Solutions, of course, would take far more than a short film to examine. Lead Me Home is available to stream on Netflix.

The Queen of Basketball. (22 minutes, USA). Lusia Harris was the greatest woman basketball player of her time. In college she won three national championships. She scored the first basket ever in Olympic women’s basketball (and won a silver medal). She was drafted in the seventh round by the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz—the first woman officially drafted in the NBA. She was the first Black woman inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. But so few people know about her. Director Ben Proudfoot allows Lucy to narrate her own story along with archival clips. There was no WNBA at the time, so she had nowhere to go after college, which created problems. [Lusia Harris died in January of this year.]

Three Songs for Benazir. (22 minutes, Afghanistan). Shaista is recently married and trying to find a way to make a living in the displaced persons camps of Kabul. He would like to join the National Army, but his family won’t agree to care for his wife or offer the guarantees required by the Army. HIs only other option is to take part in the poppy harvest. It is a reminder of the difficult lives people faced during the war in Afghanistan. Three Songs for Benazir is available to stream on Netflix.

When We Were Bullies. (36 minutes, USA/Germany). Director Jay Rosenblatt recalls an incident from fifth grade in Brooklyn when he took part in bullying a classmate. Looking back fifty years later, he contacts other former classmates and their teacher for their recollections. The film is both a study in the dynamics that lead children to bully each other, and a way of working through his guilt for his part in the event.

My favorites among these films are When We Were Bullies (which was my favorite short from the AFI Docs festival) because it reminds me of the ways I bullied and was bullied at that age, and Lead Me Home for making homelessness not just the tent encampments we drive by, but the people in those tents.

Photos courtesy of Shorts.tv.

Day 4 at AFI Docs

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Today’s films range from the mundane to the worlds of power and money. Documentaries are ways to mark points in time, to see life in new ways, and to broaden our knowledge. That happens in these films.

The HBO Documentary Series Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union premiered the first two episodes at AFI Docs. Directed by Peter Kunhardt, this series focuses on President Obama’s life with special emphasis on the role race played in shaping his life and his politics. Part One of the series covers his early life through his election to the U.S. Senate. Part Two overs his run for the Presidency in 2007-08. The film relies on archival footage and selected interviews with people who have known him.

This is a very conventional telling of the President’s story. It lacks an intimacy and personal understanding of the events in his life. The first part never really asks questions about the events in his life. In the second part, as he runs for the presidency, there are more insightful comments made about the tightrope of being a Black candidate and being a candidate for all the people. Questions of too Black or not Black enough come up. There are times that Black commentators critique some of the things he said in speeches as not resonating with the Black experience. The series will add another perspective for those seeking to understand the historic nature oif Obama’s election.

We (Nous) from filmmaker Alice Diop is a look at life in the Paris suburbs. There is no through story, just looks at the mundane world. We see a mechanic as he works on a car and gets a phone call from his mother in Mali. We see the filmmaker’s sister as she makes her rounds as a visiting nurse to elderly patients. We see kids in a park. We visit a Holocaust museum. There are no contexts given, we simply observe.

A title card at the end of the film the filmmaker mentions having learned “to see and love what is before my eyes.” That is very much what this film is about. It’s not about the narrative. It is about seeing these little bits of life as they happen.

Never mind “Antique Roadshow”. Suppose that old painting you have is really a Leonardo DaVinci. That is the crux of The Lost Leonardo by Andreas Koefoed. It traces the history of a painting found at an obscure auction in New Orleans, that was later restored and attributed to (not without controversy) Leonardo. The price paid at the New Orleans auction: $1175. The Price eventually paid at a Christies auction: $450,000,000. And, oh, by the way, you can’t see it because the current owner, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, refuses to exhibit it.

The painting, “Salvator Mundi”, becomes the focal point for looking at the art world and how it operates. It’s not just about art and collectors, but about finance and even global politics. The film brings in many of those who were involved in the story of the painting as it advanced through the art world, but also some outside people, who add knowledge about other aspects, including a former CIA operative. There is a sense in which what the film is about is truth. What makes truth? Can we know the truth? Does truth become just a matter of belief? Or does $450,000,000 buy truth? The Lost Leonardo will arrive in theaters in August.

Shorts for today include The Game, directed by Roman Hodel, that shows a bit of a soccer game. We see the crowds in the stand, the TV control room, everything is ready to go. But it’s not the game we watch, but the referee. Having officiated high school football in the past, I know that no one goes to the game to watch the referee, but he (or sometimes these days, she) is a key part of what happens. Another of the shorts is Eagles (Águilas), directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurra. That film chronicles the work of volunteers who search the Arizona desert for immigrants who get lost, or to find their remains to bring peace of mind for their families.

Photos courtesy of AFI.

Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams

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We may think of baseball as the American Pastime, but we are not the only place that loves the game. Baseball is also a very popular sport in Japan, and has been for over 100 years. Each year, there is a nationwide high school tournament leading up to crowning a champion at Koshien Stadium near Kobe. It has a nationwide following that surpasses professional baseball. Each year thousands of high school baseball teams begin the single elimination tournament in their prefectures. Only one team from each prefecture goes on to Koshien. Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams, from Ema Ryan Yamazaki, shows us a team’s quest to achieve that challenging goal.

The film focuses on Yokohama Hayato High School. The team is coached by Mizutani, who has made one trip to Koshien in his thirty year career. He is often stern with his players, pushing them as they train for the tournament. The school has 129 students who are taking part in the baseball program, but only twenty can make the summer team. We get to know a few of them, but most of the focus in on Mizutani.

The training regimen for these high school baseball players is grueling. We watch as they run in unison around the field. It looks like soldiers in boot camp. The seniors have been doing this for three years. Freshmen are having a hard time learning to stay together, and an upperclassman scolds them. They have to work as a team.

But it is not only about baseball skills and ability. In a meeting with the new freshmen, a senior mentor discusses the philosophy of the program. The number one goal is “to grow as humans”. That means being attentive to all around you. It means caring for the world. (One of the things we note is that these players pick up trash anywhere they go.) They drill on the proper way to speak. The senior mentor criticizes the way some of the players say “good morning” and “thank you”.

We also meet Sasaki, the coach of Hanamaki Higashi school. Sasaki was an assistant coach under Mizutani, whom he considers a mentor. Sasaki, however, has gone on to make it to Koshien several times. He has also coached players who have made it to American baseball, such as Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Yusei Kikuchi of the Mariners. Sasaki likens his coaching to growing bonsai plants—how they grow to fit the size of container, and the way wires are needed to form the shape, but will injure the plant if left too long. When Mizutani’s son becomes a freshman, Mizutani thinks it would be best if his son not play for him, so he is sent far from home to play for Sasaki.

But this is not just about baseball. In some ways, this serves as a chance to look at some of the cultural norms of Japanese society. The Japanese work ethic that evolved after World War II, created a strong economy, but perhaps globalization is bringing changes. Mizutani’s parents built their own company, but his mother doesn’t understand why he does not return to work in it, especially after the death of his father. That work ethic also has an effect on family life. Mizutani is rarely home. In fact it is at a practice game between Hayato and Higashu that he first sees his son play baseball (and for another team!).

That work ethic is also seen in the way the players push themselves. In a clip from a previous Koshien tournament, the TV announcers mention that the pitcher in the game threw 253 pitches yesterday. An American coach that allowed a player to through 250 pitches in a week would probably be fired for abuse. Yusei Kikuchi recalls trying to continue pitching in the tournament with a broken rib. It would not be acceptable to say he couldn’t go on.

When there is only one champion out of thousands, it means disappointment for most. And we see that disappointment play out in this film. It is what is said after that disappointment that allows us to see the way that sports can build character.

Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams is available on Virtual Cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of First Run Features.

Black Boys – The Two-edged Sword

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“The bottom line for why things haven’t changed is there is no love for black boys.”

Sonia Lowman’s documentary Black Boys opens with former NFLer Greg Scruggs reading The Little Engine that Could to his toddler son. It transitions to a middle school age boy taking Richard Wrights Black Boy from a shelf and reading it. That dichotomy of idealism and reality is the driving force of the film. Or as activist/rapper Malcolm Little puts it, “You’re talking a double-edged sword to be a black boy in America, because you have to tell yourself that you are magnificent and that you are free and beautiful, while simultaneously acknowledging that the world is not built for you. It’s not built for your success. It’s not built for you to survive.”

The film is designed in four sections entitled Body, Mind, Voice, and Heart. In each of those we get a touch of what it means for young black men as they grow into the world. Sports dominates the Body section. Sports may seem like a way out of the difficulties blacks face, but is it? Or is it just another exploitation of black bodies? Education becomes the main topic of the Mind section. Again, this is an area of great hope, but we also know that as early as kindergarten, black children are often getting less attention and are sold lower expectations. The Voice and Heart sections really focus more on the hopeful side of the film’s core contrast to let us hear what the experience has done to the people interviewed and how the future has an opportunity for change, but that is by no means a certainty.

I consider myself woke (at least for an old white guy), so there isn’t much in this film that is new to me. But it is a very powerful presentation of not just facts and figures, but of the emotional reality of the lives of the people we visit. This is in no small part because of the excellent work Lowman has done in interviewing her subjects to evoke their reflections. Whether the subjects are athletes, educators, activists, or young people looking at their future, the insights provided are always challenging without being overly judgmental. As a white person watching the film I didn’t feel as though I was being called on to feel guilty, but to be engaged with the issues of social justice that are brought forth.

One piece of archival footage that spoke to me, personally, was a press conference held by Philadelphia Eagle player Malcolm Jenkins in which he never spoke, only held up prepared signs. Several of the signs repeated the sentence, “You aren’t listening”. To me that is a reminder that the first (but not the last) thing I need to do when faced with the cries for social justice, is to listen. I may have heard these things before. I still need to listen again.

Black Boys is an invitation for all of us to listen. Some of us need to hear the facts and figures we may have missed. Some of us may need to hear the pain some people have lived through. Some of us may need to hear of the inequalities we never knew about. Some of us may need to hear the visions of hope that continue to be dreamed—and realized. Listen.

Black Boys is available on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service.

Super Bowl, Kobe Bryant: Questions & Reflections

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your sunday drive podcast

Should Christians “celebrate” secular “holidays” like the Super Bowl? What risks and opportunities are there when we participate in such cultural events?

How can we respond to the sudden death of a celebrity like Kobe Bryant? Can we find context and insight and comfort from the Bible at times like this?

Reflections on these and other questions in Your Sunday Drive Podcast Season 2, Episode 2.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive



Fall Kickoff: Sports; Future of College & Work; Meaning in Life

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your sunday drive podcast

Fall is here and with it the 150th season of college football in the U.S.!

In this episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we use this occasion as a kick-off point to revisit the topic of spirituality in sports.

Then the conversation goes deep into the current state of higher education, and the future of college and work.

Finally, the concept of God’s image is used as a touchstone principle to connect these topics to larger questions about purpose and meaning in life.

Take a listen and let us know what you think! Want to interact with us? Comment here, or on Spreaker or Facebook!



On the Map – Hoops and Hope

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“Finally the Jewish teams are kicking ass.”

Can a sports team be the catalyst that not only unites a nation but also gives it a sense of the nation’s place in the world? On the Map asks us to consider the role the Israeli basketball team Macabbi Tel Aviv had in showing the world what Israel was capable of.

MK MOSHE DAYAN SHAKING HANDS WITH MACABBI TEL AVIV BASKETBALL PLAYER MOTTI AROESTI, AS AULCI PERRY & MIKY BERKOVITZ LOOK ON
MK MOSHE DAYAN SHAKING HANDS WITH MACABBI TEL AVIV BASKETBALL PLAYER MOTTI AROESTI, AS AULCI PERRY & MIKY BERKOVITZ LOOK ON

For those of us who think mainly of the NBA if we think of basketball at all, we may not recognize just how international the game has become. Popularity of the game grew rapidly in Europe after World War II and soon there was a European Championship that was dominated by Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Israel could never make it past the first round. In the 1960s an American player, Tal Brody, passed up an NBA career (he was drafted #12 overall) to play for Macabbi Tel Aviv. Soon other American’s followed. In 1977 everything came together and the team made a run for the championship. The story of that season is told by the members of the team and others (including NBA star Bill Walton and former NBA Commission David Stern) along with archival footage of some of the games.

Some history is needed to understand the context of this team’s story. The world watched in horror as Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1973 Israel faced the Yom Kippur War. A hijacked airliner led to the Entebbe raid in 1976. Forty years ago Israel was struggling with survival. When Macabbi Tel Aviv had a chance for a good showing in the championship, it became something other than war for the nation to rally around. That is not to say there weren’t political implications. When Macabbi was scheduled to play the Soviet Red Army team, the Soviets at first refused because they had no diplomatic relations with Israel. The game was finally played at a neutral site in a small town in Belgium. That game in particular is given attention not just because the Soviets were such a good team, but also because this was a period of Soviet oppression of Jews. The game took on a touch of geopolitical ramifications. It was after that game that Tal Brody said that it had put Israel “on the map”, not just in sports but in everything.

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The American equivalent of this story is probably the US gold medal in ice hockey that took place just the year before this story (and also involved beating the Soviets). To be fair, Americans are used to being the best in sports. We take pride in being at or near the top in Olympic medals. Still, for a country that is struggling not just in sports but for its very survival, a victory such as Macabbi Tel Aviv provided can give a new sense of pride and new hope of what the future can hold. It is a reminder that sometimes sports are not just something we can watch and enjoy. Sometimes those games can speak to us emotionally and even spiritually.

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Photos courtesy of Hey Jude Productions