HE GOT GAME
US, 1999, 136 minutes, Colour.
Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Rosario Dawson, Bill Nunn, Ned Beatty, John Turturro.
Directed by Spike Lee.
He Got Game is a very American Spike Lee film – not released widely outside the United States. However, it is very interesting in terms of a picture of life for Afro-Americans? in New York City, relationships between father and son, a focus on professional sport and temptations, deals, and effect on sports personalities.
Denzel Washington had appeared for Spike Lee in Mo Better Blues and Malcolm X. He was to appear also in Inside Man. Here he goes against type. He is a prisoner, guilty of the manslaughter of his wife in a fit of temper at home. He is devoted to his son, training him hard in basketball when he was small but alienating him and certainly cutting him off after the death of his mother. The boy has become a champion and all the colleges are after him with scholarships. He is played by Ray Allen. His girlfriend is played by Rosario Dawson who began her career in Kids and appeared in a number of films including Sin City, Clerks 2. John Turturro has appeared in many Spike Lee films and here appears as an earnest coach. Ned Beatty is the warden of the prison.
The film focuses on the attempts by the governor of the state through the prison warden to persuade Denzel Washington to get his son to join a college favoured by the governor. He has a week to do this – with the result that there is a portrait of Washington as a character, his encounter with a prostitute (Milo Jovovich) and his attempts to persuade his son – with flashbacks to the domestic life of the family.
The film is an interesting Spike Lee film – all his themes – but with some humanity.
1.The career of Spike Lee, his idiosyncratic films, his wide coverage of African American life in the US? The film as a piece of Americana? A film about family? About sport? About crime and corruption?
2.The New York settings, the cityscapes, Brooklyn? Homes and streets? The basketball courts? The contrast with the Attica prison sequences? The dingy slums, apartments, bars? The contrast with the universities, clubs? The musical score, the songs?
3.The title, the quotation from Michael Jordan, the language, the idiom, the play on words with ‘game’?
4.The initial focus on Jake, the prison yard at Attica, his playing basketball, the memories of his coaching his son and playing with him? The interview with the governor, the proposal – and the irony of the lies and the later denial of any deal, announcing that Jake had escaped and had been captured? His journey, the bodyguards, the week to persuade his son for his decision? The flashbacks, a different perspective of Jake, his relationship with his son, the pressures, the intensity of his coaching, the practices, the anger at home, his son giving up, his mother interceding, Jake’s love for his mother, the encounter, her death? The consequences? The second focus on the son, his name, Jesus, at school, his friends, the relationship with La La, the advice, the details of the pressure on him, the ending and his decision? Jake back in jail? The symbol of each of them throwing the basketball over the wall?
5.The portrait of Jake, Denzel Washington and his screen presence, in Attica, the interview with the governor, his response, the feigned illness, isolation, the drive to New York, his minders and their attitude, tough, their visits to him, keeping an eye on him, reminding him of the deadline? The dingy apartment, seeing Dakota and Sweetness? Listening to them, going to Dakota’s help, the relationship with her, talking, the honesty, each telling their story, the sexual liaison? The meeting, his daughter, her love for her father, the family, the son and his alienation, disowning his father? Jake telling his son of the proposal but not the reasons? His memories, pushing his son, pushing his son too far, his anger? The memories of his wife, his love for her, later going to her grave? The impact of her death? Talking to Dakota, the discussions with the minders, Jesus’s cousin, the baskets, the challenge, the competition for eleven, Jake losing, the minders coming and cuffing him, Jesus watching? His return to jail, being betrayed, the basketball, going into the forbidden zone, the guards with their rifles, the ball over the wall, his satisfaction as he returned?
6.Jesus, his name, the collage of everybody naming Jesus? The sports hero, his size? The glimpse of the other basketball players, their names, height, talents? Jesus’s relationship to La La, the later revelation about her pregnancy, the abortion, their discussions? His cousin, during their childhood, growing up, the cousin at home, eating at his cousin’s house? Their talking as adults, his cousin and the limitation of his reading? La La and her involvement with agents, getting money? The proposal, going to the Mafia house, its luxury, his turning down the money? His uncle, relationship to his uncle and aunt, their care for him and his sister, his reputation for bringing up his sister? The uncle in the car and Jesus wanting him to return it? His friends, going to the university, the spiel by the pious coach? The girls, the sexual romp? The discussions with La La, her infidelity, abortion, her expectation that she would be dumped? Meeting his father, the baskets competition, getting something of his anger out of himself, his final decision and the various reactions? His self-assertion? His sense of responsibility?
7.Home, the uncle and the aunt, their care for the two children, the issue of the car?
8.La La in herself, her love for Jesus, sexual relationship, the issue of the abortion, taking the money, with the friend, the discussion about their future?
9.The Mafia, the luxury house, the agent, Mafia owners of teams, of sports stars, the house with the indoor court, the tantalising money?
10.The coach at the college, his earnestness, religious bent, the prayer?
11.The friend, the difference in the white college, the white girls, the availability, the sex romp? The repercussions for Jesus?
12.The importance of the father-son conflict, anger, possible reconciliation?
13.Young men, African American men, their skill at sport, peer pressure, the money possibilities, careers and reputation?
14.The realism of the film – but with final hope?
