Anyone who has used Netflix knows this inherent dilemma: having so many choices and yet not knowing what to pick. But another side effect of having such a deluge of choices is that your brain never quite buys competely in to your choice. Unless it’s 100% what you wanted to be watching – which, frankly, only happens when you’re binge-watching your new favorite show and got to see the next episode – the realization that you can simply stop at any time and make a different choice is always there, just standing by the door, ready for your signal to open it and walk right back outside.
All of this to say that I wanted so badly to bail on The Other Dream Team. We made the choice to watch it based on my cousin’s recommendation, who tried to let us know just how good it is without overselling it. But the opening scenes of the film are almost entirely subtitled. I’m used to watching movies with subtitles, but hearing some of the dialogue that matches the words makes it easier to just flow with it. When they’re talking in a different language and I still have to read in English? It feels more like homework. And no one wants to do homework on a Saturday night.
But sometimes there’s a reward for sticking with things. And, boy, does this movie reward you.
The true story, about Lithunaian basketball – their rise, their struggles, their future NBA stars – is as fascinating as it is heartbreaking. Lithuania had the true misfortune of being stuck between two super powers in Russia and Germany during World War II. This resulted in many fleeing the country, as well as stranding many who were unable to escape. It’s a dark history to start a story with, but it informs the joy and ownership the country takes with basketball. It is their true sport, they remind us, and it is the thing that propels them through the darkness.
Even more interesting is learning about their superstar players who nearly missed their chance to dominate in the NBA. I was familiar with Arvydas Sabonis, mainly because I never understood how someone who looks so slow and unwieldy could be so damn good. He frustrated me in every playoffs I saw as a kid, leaving me uneasy whenever he ran into my Malone-and-Stockton-led Utah Jazz, like a slow-moving buzzsaw you couldn’t retreat from. Even more amazing? Sabonis, due to the draconian rules the USSR held over all their future NBA players, didn’t get to play in the NBA until he was 32 years old. So we missed his prime. And, as you’ll see in this film, we missed something even more incredible.
Even more incredible to me is how Sabonis wasn’t even the best Lithuanian player at the time. That honor belonged to Šarūnas Marčiulionis, who, like Sabonis, joined the NBA late in his career. We didn’t get a chance to see his frightful prime, of which the film gives us short glimpses of.
You will learn some incredible things about Lithuania in this film, such as how you had to pay the government for your new car and wait 10 years for it to arrive. The players describing their first trip to America – where they sat amazed at all the food we could eat, and even tried to make a couple bucks by selling our goods in their home country – will give you some nice perspective.
Perhaps the most incredible part of this whole story is just how a band such as the Grateful Dead became involved. Even on your best Mad Lib days, you would never associate a country like Lithuania with a jam band like The Dead. But understanding how the two became intertwined is one of those great discoveries you make as you don’t allow a heavily-subtitled film to deter you. The rewards are great. Give it a chance.
This movie is no longer streaming on Netflix, but can be rented through Amazon Prime for 99 cents. Here’s the link.