Jamal, an extraordinary basketball player, tries to keep his literary talents a secret. He hides his notebooks and curiosity from his family and friends in his hometown. Intelligence is not a way of acceptance in The Bronx. Eventually, his exceptional test scores give him away, and he is offered a huge scholarship to an exclusive prep school. There is one catch; Jamal has to play basketball for the school team. This is definitely not a big drawback for Jamal. He gets the best of both worlds; it’s almost too good to be true.
At Jamal’s new school, he hits race and class barriers. Talent scouts circle him like sharks to help maintain their status in the National Basketball League, while his teacher accuses him of plagiarism. His teacher, along with the rest of his school, cannot believe that a black star basketball player could possess such a talent. Even before the case arose, Jamal’s teacher was suspicious. There is a scene where he is discussing his suspicions with other faculty. He says that there must be something wrong. He doesn’t believe that Jamal could write the way he does. He asks Jamal to write his next paper in front of him in his office.
Back at home, Jamal’s lower class black friends are suspicious of anyone who studies too hard, and his new white colleagues wonder if he could study hard enough. When Jamal returns home for a visit, his old friends are hesitant. They are more reserved and treat him almost as if he abandoned them. His new colleagues; however, do not take him very seriously. To them he is just some black kid who thinks he is better than The Bronx. To them he is a basketball player who thinks he got into their school with his academic talent. They, along with their teacher, do not give Jamal the credit that he deserves.
This movie shows the struggles that blacks and athletes can endure, trying to be taken seriously.
Athletes, especially black athletes, are not given credit for their minds. Jamal was asked not to fight his plagiarism case and to take a lighter class load so he could remain on the school basketball team. They had forgotten that his outrageous test scores had gotten him into the school to begin with. This helps to illustrate their belief that Jamal cannot be strong in both athletics and academics, that he can’t dribble a basketball and read a book. His coach asked him not to fight the case. This shows that he believes Jamal is guilty. Anybody that had faith in Jamal would been behind in to the fullest and encouraged him with his case.
Jamal was so offended that he purposely lost the championship game. Maybe if he weren’t a star, his academics would mean a little more. This is a wonderful touch to the movie. It helped to emphasize the importance of academics to Jamal. It takes a person with strong character to turn down the spotlight as it is basically placed in their hands. He purposely misses a winning shot to take the focus off his basketball skills and place attention to where it is needed the most.
Combining youth, urban, and academic culture, this movie accurately portrays the struggles of athletes to be anything but athletes. Jamal, a black athlete, struggles, as a sixteen-year-old boy on the underside of race and class divides, to find a voice and recognize a talent.
