5. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Regarded as one of the best and most ambitious documentaries in the history of the medium, Hoop Dreams is among the most potent social commentaries that has ever been recorded on film. It begins with two inner-city Chicago eights graders, Arthur Agee and William Gates, who are considered to be the most promising basketball players in their age group promising enough to play professionally in their future. Much to their excitement, Arthur and William are both recruited to play basketball at the same high school that their NBA idol Isaiah Thomas played at. The documentary proceeds to follow the students all the way through high school, and even into about a year of their lives afterward. What happens during that time is a candid look at the oppressive social and economic factors that press on these underprivileged kids, constantly preventing them from attaining greatness. We become acquainted with their parents, their siblings, their friends even their children all of whom are affected by the same social misfortune that Arthur and William are. When we meet these personalities, we discover that Arthur and Williams success is the only thing that can liberate them from the otherwise inevitable future in their rundown community. The premise sounds hackneyed and it would be if it were a film but remember that this is a three-hour documentary that spans over about five or six years of these peoples actual lives. Despite its 175-minute runtime, Hoop Dreams has no problem maintaining your attention; it offers a truly gripping account of two people trying to ascend in the class ladder with the weight of all their loved ones on their shoulders. Arthur and William become two of the most memorable characters that you will ever see in any film, and Hoop Dreams invites you to cheer in their successes, and despair at their failures. For a documentary experience that is both immersive and enlightening, Hoop Dreams cant be overlooked.