Biblical Basketball

"He Got Game" works for two complimentary reasons methinks: one is formal and the other religious--or, at least, "spiritual," as Denzel Washington's Jacob Shuttlesworth describes himself at one point. None of this is subtle, which is a criticism I and others have often levied against Spike Lee's oeuvre, but that's not a problem here. I mean, it's a film about a game of putting a ball through a hoop. It's not complicated. No biopic or large historical racial issues to laboriously lecture the audience over this time. Just the best sport ever invented treated by a filmmaker who obviously loves the game--from appearing in a shoe commercial with Michael Jordan to becoming a common site courtside as Reggie Miller routinely taunted him and his New York Knicks teams. Moreover, while blunt, Lee is an otherwise competent, even excellent, filmmaker and as evidenced here clearly knows how to compose a sports movie.

The formal aspect might seem obvious enough, although given that most basketball and sports flicks stink, perhaps not, or at least not easy to pull off successfully. Basketball and other athletics are like cinema in that they're all about bodies in motion. That much has been apparent at least since Leni Riefenstahl documented the 1936 Olympics. Here, Lee ingeniously begins with a city-symphony type montage played to Aaron Copland's orchestration of "John Henry"--mush like, say, Woody Allen began "Manhattan" (1979) with shots of skyscrapers and street scenes set to George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"--and all that goes back to the city symphony genre from the silent film era. The scene just sets a wonderful tone and focus on composition and rhythm that's sustained throughout the runtime, including a great score overall and even sex scenes that aren't filmed badly.

The one-on-one game between Washington and, real NBA basketballer playing his son Jesus, Ray Allen is very well done. It actually looks as though they were really trying and playing against each other, and according to Lee they were. No cheap editing tricks around a poorly-staged match here like one sees in just about every other sports movie. Bonus points, too, for Allen doing a decent job of acting, which may be even more impressive next to an actor of Washington's stature than are Washington's basketball abilities compared to an elite athlete as Allen.

The lovely final sequence brings the point home succinctly. Beyond the father-son relationship, it's a basketball traveling through space and time like cinematic montage and, even more blatant, the ball flickers in the light. Bodies in motion, basketball and cinema.

As for religion, we get a character named "Jesus," conversations about religious conviction and explicit references to biblical stories such as that of Samson and Delilah. Indeed, a lot is made of the Jesus name, which turns out to have not been originally intended as all that religious, after all, but that's besides the point. Jacob's arc is one of redemption at the risk of Faustian bargain and via none other than the savior son, Jesus. Perhaps, telling, too, that the mother is dead and treated only as a sainted memory. Meanwhile, Jesus is in the wilderness facing temptations afore his fated sacrifice (albeit still getting a full-ride scholarship out of cleansing the temple of recruitment bribes and an early professional start). The girlfriend Lala, as stated, being the Delilah, as the prostitute Dakota is the film's Mary Magdalene. In particular, some have criticized the characterization of women in the film, which is fair, but it seems Lee may've been aware of that limitation given that he full-on depicts the supposed Madonna-whore complex in bed.

Regardless, "He Got Game" realizes the spiritual symmetry between religion and sport--the fervent devotion, atonement and faith--perhaps like only one precedent, "Hoosiers" (1986). Maybe more so than the significance of the state in basketball history, that's why Lee's picture opens on Indiana or Indiana-esque farm fields and a lefthander practicing his jump shot. To say these films are biblical is not merely to say that they're literally inspired by stories from scripture; it's also stylistic. The grandiose musical accompaniments, the off-court drama played out as epic spectacle on the asphalt and hardwood and turned into myth.