Spike Lee's Magnus Opus. My (abridged) interpretation.

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2001)

This movie is a powerful allegory about following the Truth. The name of Jesus Shuttlesworth is fully explained in the scene devoted to it in the movie, and is integral to getting the meaning of the film. Jesus is a Christ like figure who is tempted to follow paths constructed for him by others to satisfy there interests instead of his. He is looking for guidance, but cannot find it as his skeevy Uncle wants Jesus to be his cash cow, as does his coach, as does the neighborhood hood crime boss, as does even his girlfriend. With his mother dead and his father the one who killed the only person who actually cared about her (as at that time his father pushed him miserably hard to be a good basketball player), the only person who cares about him is his sister, who is younger and whom he must take care of. He has to overcome the pressures of being born into a poor, black ghetto while simultaneously thinking straight about what choices to make in the future with no guidance. (Possible spoilers start here.) The guidance comes from the explanation of his name by his father to him on the boardwalk. He has to let go of the hate in his heart and make decisions with love as his guiding light. His father didn't name him after Jesus Christ but after a basketball player nicknamed Jesus because "he was the truth." When he played he was true to the game and not to the money, or to the women he would get, or the fame. He had game, not in the way that he had good business sense or that he was a mack, but that he had the ability to make basketball a thing of beauty and purity. Jake did not approach Jesus with the hatred and domination he had when Jesus was young- the hate that killed his wife- he timidly asked his son to do him a favor out of love even though the audience can tell that Jake does knows he does not deserve forgiveness. This movie is a message to all people but explained in the setting of basketball (which has been set as all American with a montage at the beginning of the movie with people in various location of various skin colors and social backgrounds) and the Afro-American subculture. The ending is the final statement pointing the direction of the impact of the whole film straight at males in the black community, when Jake walks "out of bounds," of the self hatred and destruction of black men, exemplified by being in prison and in the sights of a jet black guard's rifle, so that he can put the ball into his sons court, which at the same time visually shows no people that Jesus can turn to in the huge stadium, but also emphasizes the possibilities open to him. Even though Jake did not get free physically, he did his job as a father; not forcing his son to play basketball, but showing his how to love.