No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson

James is even-handed as hell, giving everyone willing to talk their time. The case is fascinating - a sudden eruption of lingering racial tension on the Virginia coast where slavery was born in America. And it's stunning to watch a young Iverson in his football days, and his amazing early basketball skills like those 40 foot jump shots.

An interesting look from a local filmmaker regarding events that took place in his community. Not groundbreaking in the sense that we have seen racial divides a thousand times, but the local connection does it well.

Steve James is a fantastic documentarian.

In 1993, Allen Iverson was involved, or maybe not, in a racially inflamed fight between black students & some younger white adults in Hampton, Va. -- the same place Steve James grew up a few decades prior. Returning to his hometown, James interviews neighbors, defendants, activists, lawyers, politicians, and media members, reconstructing the event as a racial Rorschach test, cleaving the community along lines both expected and unexpected, and as a corrective to his own memories of his hometown.

Interesting, if albeit disjointed, story of Iverson's sparking of racial unrest as a microcosm for America at large (especially in retrospect). My favorite part is the man who dismisses all the other "conspiracy theories" as absolutely stupid before immediately chiming in with his own conspiracy theory. I wish slightly more time was dedicated to Iverson the person rather than circumstantial thoughts on the trial. The youth coach steals the show.

I was psyched to see that Steve James (from Hoop Dreams fame) was involved in this documentary about one of my favorite basketball players. The fact that James grew up in the same area as Iverson makes everything more genuine in my opinion. I would have liked to see them have some sound bites from John Thompson, but you can't get everything. James does a good job covering all the different oppinions in the Hampton area, to point out that still there is some racial tension in America.

Still the only 30-for-30 I've watched, because of James and his amazing Hoop Dreams. He brings the same balance and insight to the case of Allen Iverson, and it's fascinating to see the tensions of race and class bubble up and explode, especially when one of America's most talented and controversial athletes is at the center of it all.