Must Download Movies: He Got Game
Back in the nineties, Spike Lee really began evolving as a storyteller, exploring well beyond his era of being known as “the black Woody Allen”. He created something all his own in the 1990′s, and carved out a fascinating little niche for himself in the cinematic landscape. He Got Game is sort of his answer to Martin Scorsese’s gritty urban films. It comes down to a story of family, and is one of Lee’s all time must download movies.
The lead character is named Jesus. Jee-Zuss, not Hey-Seuss. It’s… It’s a Biblical name, you could say. Jesus is a basketball prodigy, one of the most promising the city has ever seen. The schools trying to court him are more than just aggressive. They seem this close to asking him “Who do you want killed to come play for us?” They really do just about go that far.
His father is played by Denzel Washington, serving a stint in prison for involuntary manslaughter. During a domestic altercation some years ago, he accidentally killed Jesus’ mother, shoving her. She slipped and broke her neck. Jesus has never forgiven him for this, although his little sister has. These family issues come up again throughout the film.
The warden at the prison offers a deal: Let the father out for a little while to convince Jesus to join the warden’s alma mater, and they’ll see about reducing the sentence.
Of course, this isn’t really the point for the father. A reduced sentence is a nice bonus, but he really wants to take the opportunity to find the son’s forgiveness, to be close to him and to love him and be loved by him. The way these two plot threads tie together is really incredible, in that what school Jesus chooses has to be right for him.
Along the way, the father falls in love with a street prostitute while Jesus tries to figure out the right thing to do, trying to avoid the temptation, the goodies the various schools dangle in front of him. They offer him everything, money, sex, drugs, fat wads of cash as bribes, to try and get him to choose their schools over all the others. He enjoys these bonuses, but ultimate maintains his composure and tries to make the right decision for himself and for his little sister.
The movie ends in a way that, while it doesn’t wrap everything up neatly in a little bow, it does deliver on an emotional level, and that’s where it really counts in the end.
The film is frightening and shocking at times, it’s moving, and it boasts a lot of emotional depth and truth. The film also carries some great music by Public Enemy, notably the title track, He Got Game. Since then, Spike Lee has reinvented himself again, creating more marketable, polished films. His newer movies are every bit as worthwhile as his previous work, but there’s a rawness, a realness to the era between Do the Right Thing and He Got Game that set him apart from all other filmmakers of his generation.
Very often in the past I know that I’ve bought movies and was just flat out disappointed once I got them home. Internet Movie Rental People find that they can get things like movies and not have to worry about returning them. Getting something for free is after all what we would all prefer.
