The Justice

Without minimizing any of the film's entertainment value, Vyorst proves through a historical analysis that basketball was not just a game for the often-poor immigrants-it was a tool for Americanization. The film, then, is more than just an interesting explanation of one aspect of Jewish immigrant culture, but rather, it is a historical film that uses basketball as a metaphor to examine national identity and assimilation.

While the documentary could have shown more recent examples of Jewish basketball participation, the few examples provided were illuminating. The film includes a short biography of Tamir Goodman, also know as the "Jewish Jordan," the most prominent Jewish basketball prospect of the past 15 years, and also describes how American Jews helped develop basketball in Israel and still energize the game there.

It might have been interesting to learn about a few more contemporary Jewish basketball figures, such as Jordan Farmar, the Jewish Los Angeles Lakers guard who frequently visits Israel, or Jon Scheyer, a Jewish McDonald's All-American and starting guard for Duke.

But as Jews today no longer impact the game as they once did, the disproportionate attention given to current Jewish athletes fits the spirit of the film.

As the documentary entertains and educates about a little-known story, anyone with even a passing interest in basketball or Jewish history could appreciate it. Though a Jew might not lead the NBA in scoring anytime soon, The First Basket proves that Jews have more game than movies like Airplane! would lead you to believe.

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