# Basket, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    THE BASKET
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

Opera, basketball and prejudice: an unlikely combination for any film, especially for one set in small town America towards the end of World War I.

Rich Cowan's THE BASKET is a simple and poetic film whose magic comes from many sources, particularly two beautifully understated performances by Peter Coyote and Karen Allen. The director makes the bold assumption that the audience has both intelligence and patience. In a film filled with messages -- "To defend a mighty wall, each one must fight for something small," the opera says -- most are delivered with quiet delicacy, leaving the viewers to ascertain the fullness of their meanings and their portent for the story at hand.

Two teenage, German war orphans, Helmut and his sister Brigitta, played with touching resoluteness by Robert Karl Burke and Amber Willenborg, are taken from their internment camp to live in Waterville, Washington with Reverend Simms, M.D. (Tony Lincoln). Waterville is so small that Rev. Simms is in charge of both birthing and baptizing. Although their parents were killed by Americans, the orphans carry little resentment; they're just thankful to be alive. But it's not easy since the members of the town carry varying amounts of prejudice against them. "I thought the war for us had finally ended, but it hadn't," Helmut explains in voice-over. "Only the battlefield had changed,"

The one most against the orphans is Mr. Emery (Jock MacDonald), whose oldest son, Ben (Elwon Bakly), has just returned home from the war. Having lost his good health and his left leg, Ben has been transformed from his father's chief helper into "just another mouth to feed." Unlike her headstrong husband, Mrs. Emery (Karen Allen) wants to pick up the pieces of their lives and get on with it.

Another outsider in Waterville is Mr. Conlon (Peter Coyote), the new teacher for the town's one-room school. With a Bostonian accent as thick as Helmut's German one, Mr. Conlon sticks out like a peach basket nailed up to a wall. He once played under the man who invented basketball and that's how it was played back then. Things having not advanced much, that's exactly how the teacher introduces the game to his pupils, who had barely heard of the sport.

Meanwhile, back in the schoolroom (he sleeps in its small anteroom), Mr. Conlon teaches the class a continuing lesson with the aid of a German opera ("The Basket"). This creates a buzz of excitement in the village because he dribbles out the story like episodes of a soap opera. The whole town becomes enthralled with the latest happenings in the story, as if they were the latest installments of "Dallas." His choice of a "German" opera, even with its popularity, causes great consternation to some residents.

The goings-on at the school have ramifications throughout the town. In a delicately nuanced performance, Karen Allen's Mrs. Emery finds the teacher fascinating because he represents life away from the farm. "Boston -- I always wanted to visit Boston," she sighs when Mr. Conlon tells her of his home. "Or any place for that matter."

Helmut, a source of derision among his fellow students for being German, is also the shortest of those near his age. This means that he isn't allowed in the basketball games that the older and much taller boys try without much skill or luck. Nevertheless, using laundry and a laundry basket, or whatever he can find, Helmut practices in the hope that the day will come when he can join in the game.

The seemingly disparate stories of opera and basketball come together when the town needs the down payment for a harvester. If they can defeat the undefeatable Spokane Spartans, they can win enough to get the down payment.

Filmed frequently with the warm glow of the setting sun, the rolling pastures of Washington state look invitingly bucolic. This little filmed area of the United States clearly deserves to have more movies set there.

Although the journey is the reward in this movie, its big game ending manages more surprises than you'd ever expect, one being the half-time refreshments of the other team: beer and big cigars. And the rules back then were quite a bit different than they are now. Even the game's slower pacing, which matches that of the movie, possesses an undeniable charm.

A heartfelt motion picture, THE BASKET is a delightful film worth savoring for those willing to take the time to enjoy its methodical rhythms. It's a film that gives family entertainment a good name and one that will have you still enjoying it in your memory after you leave the theater.

THE BASKET runs 1:45. It is rated PG for some mild violence and brief language and would be fine for all ages. Children with short attention spans, however, are unlikely to find it worthwhile.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews