2020 was a year plagued by a series of seemingly unimaginable things: a pandemic, riots, protests, and more. Through it all, however, the National Basketball Association (NBA) decided to continue their season inside of a “bubble” located within the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. NBA players and employees left their families for months in order to continue playing basketball–and Game Change Game aims to tell their story, the story of everything that went down during 2020.
When the world shut down in March of 2020, one of the things that got to a lot of people was the fact that the NBA and other major sports leagues shut down, too. There are many of us that live for sports, that spend each and every day thinking about and discussing the games we love–and a shutdown of the leagues we love just added to the torture of quarantine and the fact that we had no idea when the world would be the same again (if it was ever going to be the same again). We are far enough removed from the pandemic (at least I believe so) to be able to talk about it and not be infuriated by reliving everything that played out in 2020. Now that we are back to (what we call) normal, Game Change Game dives back into the fire, back into one of the worst times in recent memory, and perfectly captures all that transpired three years ago.
The coverage of these players, NBA executives, trainers, and more is so thorough, so complete. Directors Spike Jordan and Maxime Quoilin do such a wonderful job of going behind the scenes and capturing exactly what it was like to live in the bubble, exactly what it was like for these individuals to leave their families and compete in front of empty stands. They absolutely put the work in; they did everything that they possibly could have to bring Game Change Game to life. However, with all that they were able to cover, the film becomes a bit divisive.
The reality is that the NBA is a league based on sports, and the fact that they have rarely dabbled in politics and the like before 2020, it will take time, maybe even generations before the world accepts this movement. I exist between two very distinct generations: one that believes athletes should simply play their sport and stay out of politics, and one that sees their platform as an opportunity to make change. To be honest, I believe both of these things–and I’m a prime example of how things in the world of sports are changing. Game Change Game, for all intents and purposes, is attempting to usher in the belief that athletes’ platform can be used for good, for more than just dribbling a ball. I commend them for this for sure, but there is part of me that struggles with the idea of an entertainer (many of whom I believe are overpaid) complaining about their lives when the majority have little (if nothing) to worry about. From the standpoint of the filmmakers and the athletes showcased in Game Change Game, they are accomplishing exactly what they set out to do–they are forcing their viewers to think.
That’s really all a documentary can do if I’m being honest. However, I believe that documentaries need to allow viewers to think for themselves, not be told what to think. Game Change Game is a political narrative driven forward by popular sport-related faces. Every step of the way this group is telling the world what they should think–and that’s infuriating. I don’t want to be the guy that tells a bunch of athletes to shut up and dribble, but for the sake of the documentary, please stick to sports–that aspect of the film is far more compelling, far more accessible, and simply more entertaining.
Game Change Game is a documentary that wants to be a lot of different things. It wants to cover sports, providing an in-depth look at the NBA bubble during COVID-19, it wants to be a film that brings people together, it wants to be a political documentary, and more. I desperately wanted the film to lean more in one direction (and not the direction that it ultimately leans). I was turned off during a good portion of the film as a result of the political narrative, because that’s not what I was here to see. However, Game Change Game does the thing that all documentaries should strive to do, make viewers think. In a lot of ways Game Change Game does a lot of great things, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
Directed by Spike Jordan & Maxime Quoilin.
Starring C.J. McCollum, JaVale McGee, Chris Paul, Doc Rivers, Michele Roberts, Matisse Thybulle, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
Комментарии