(Photo Credit: The film’s Facebook page)
When going to the movies, the average island Puerto Rican watches a Hollywood-produced film, and most times, said project is expected to be a huge blockbuster filled with all sorts of special effects. However, when a Puerto Rican production is in theaters, this same audience comes into conflict and questions such as “Will it be worth it?” and “Should I really spend my hard-earned money on this feature when I can just watch this other film?” arise. While there are many reasons why this problem emerges, it is safe to say that one of them is because Puerto Ricans have, for the most part, been raised watching popular, Hollywood movies, and when they do not see a piece without any form of spectacle they will be more than likely to dismiss it. The latest documentary by Julio César Torres and Ricardo Olivero Lora, Nuyorican Básquet, not only demonstrates the storytelling power Puerto Ricans can achieve through this visual medium, but that it can also be done while attacking subject matter very much attached to the island and its history with the United States.
As described in the movie’s IMDB page, Nuyorican Básquet tells the “dramatic story of Puerto Rico’s 1979 National Basketball Team, whose players were mainly born or raised in New York.” But the documentary is much more than that. It is an exploration of the complex politics surrounding Puerto Rico and its relationship with the United States. Through a series of interviews with members of the team like coaches Flor Meléndez and Julio Toro and players Raymond Dalmau and Quijote Morales, as well as important sports figures, politicians, and scholars such as Elliott Castro Tirado, ex-governor Carlos Romero Barceló and Raquel Z. Rivera, PhD, Nuyorican Básquet reflects on themes such as the politics of the time, the effect Nuyoricans had on Puerto Rican basketball, the language conflict between island Puerto Ricans and Nuyoricans, and the constant Puerto Rican migration. All of these leading the audience to ask what it really means to be Puerto Rican, as it was put in the documentary “¿Qué es la puertorriqueñidad? (What is Puerto Ricanness?)”
(Sports expert Elliot Castro Tirado was one of the many to be interviewed in the film, photo taken from the movie’s Facebook page)
However, with greatness there are also flaws. Nothing is perfect and while Nuyorican Básquet does come to the level of quality of any ESPN 30 for 30 or HBO Sports documentary, it does have a few minor weaknesses. For starters, I believe, if given perhaps a little more time, the film could have benefited from a little more exploration of the connection between politics and sports. When it comes to a national or international level, these two, whether we like to admit it or not, are both inevitably siblings. But perhaps this lack of extra reflection is due to the small amount of political figures in the film, which is the picture’s other flaw. Throughout the movie’s entirety the audience are told about the political climate through Romero Barceló’s point of view and that of athletes, sports figures, and scholars. But perhaps the documentary could have benefited with the perspective of other minds from the political field. It could have provided another glimpse into such an important moment in time, but this is possibly due to lack of budget or access on the filmmakers’ part.
Nevertheless, Nuyorican Básquet is a fantastic documentary that demonstrates the potential Puerto Ricans have with the visual medium while providing quality material that maintains and explores its own culture. Sure, the project has its flaws but these are minimum and never outshine the greatness, wealth of information, and questions the film leaves us to implore. If you are into sports, politics, or consider yourself Puerto Rican in any way, I highly recommend you watch this picture in theaters, as it is still playing, because it is truly an example of what a little and complex Caribbean island can bring to the world of cinema. #Nuyo79
As of December 7th, 2017 the film is still playing in Puerto Rico’s Caribbean Cinemas theaters located in Río Hondo, Montehiedra, Fajardo Arecibo and Ponce Towne.
Here is the film’s trailer as found on YouTube:
(Another poster for the documentary, taken from its Facebook page)