Unfortunately for the genre, sports dramas have mostly been governed by the same template, marked with squares and bevels, that marked movies like ‘Hoosiers: More Than Idols‘. You can modify it in part -changing the ending towards a full victory or towards a defeat that tastes of satisfaction-, but it falls off in the same common places to be effective, even if it takes the shine off in the end.
Basketball dramas have been among those that have suffered this impact the most -after all, ‘Hoosiers’ is about basketball-, and it is difficult to find some that break the mold or that dare to propose something fresh with such a free sport within its four corners. Perhaps that is why the best film of this type of sport, or one of the best, is one that is already 30 years old and does not seem like it will come down from the top any time soon – not even films like ‘Claw’ come close. We talk about ‘The whites do not know how to put it‘, available on Disney+.
They give the blow
When the Oscars held this year decided to pay tribute to some of the most famous films that were celebrating their anniversary, they highlighted ‘The Godfather’ (50 years), ‘Pulp Fiction’ (30 years)… and also ‘Los Blancos la they know how to meter’, which also celebrates its 30th anniversary. You can crash that a comedy is on the same level as two of the most acclaimed movies of all time. But, to be fair, there have been few comedies like this one.
The film takes us into the heart of the games of street basketball, where the pace flows fast, harsh language is the order of the day and the players try to get ahead with scams to fleece the less clever. In this context, the character of Woody Harrelson, who quickly stands out for his white appearance to a majority of African-American players. the character of wesley snipes sees a perfect cousin to break, but runs into someone of similar talent.
From there, a series of scams and contracts will begin to try to get out of the poverty hole. Snipes searches for a good place to raise a family, while Harrelson and his girlfriend, played by Rose Perez, they are in trouble before a debt maintained with some gangsters. They all have urgency, they all have dramatic circumstances… And they all have a very remarkable charisma.
‘The whites don’t know how to put it in’: wonderful move
The film is full of hilarious situations, and the actors are especially inspired to land the funny lines, though there are several aspects that make the film a bit more daring. Ron Sheltonwho signs the script and directs it, pays interesting attention to the contexts, to the evident racial discrepancies between the two protagonists, and makes a interesting drawing on the racial issue in the United States without it dominating the entire story.
All this leaves us with a film that both makes an interesting observation about the structural problems of his country as does a hilarious sequence with Rosie Perez in a TV game show. The combination that she makes is very risky, but ‘The whites don’t know how to put it in’ achieves more than an impressive basket on the buzzer. She is a wonder that dominates both sides of the track and offers a show that few have managed to match. Wonderful play.