Customer Reviews

The Basket [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Basket is one of those films which causes you to think and yet allows you to walk away from the theatre glad that you spent the time and money to see it. Peter Coyote and Karen Allen do a wonderful job in their roles in this film set in Eatern Washington. The film is a great choice for those with families as the material is not objectionable in the least and yet has the ability to capture the audience with stunning cinematography and a plot which intracately weaves in and out throughout the movie. This film has the feel of a classic foreign film and does not provide easy answers to every question it raises. It also has a wonderful story line concerning the early development of the game of basketball which portrays that development accurately and yet retains the fun that sports films tend to characterize. The local actors called on to play the Spokane team are wonderful and led by their captain (played by Scott McQuilkin) they add great vitality to the film. Most of the viewing public were shortchanged in the limited release of this film, due to heavyweight Hollywood blockbusters which hog the screens across the country. Now with its video and DVD release The Basket has an opportunity to allow viewers to see one of the top movies to come out in 1999. Having seen this movie in the theatres in Spokane I have been awaiting its video debut. Enjoy it, it is a great movie.

Starring Peter Coyote and Karen Allen, The Basket tells the story of a new schoolteacher in Waterville, Washington during World War I. He uses the unlikely subjects of opera and the new game of basketball to help two sibling German orphans who are facing discrimination by others in the town. The film is at once a drama, a sports film, and has some light-hearted moments. It is a wholesome and uplifting film.

The production quality is superb and the scenery is quite breathtaking. The film also contains an original soundtrack, produced in part by individuals from Spokane.

This is a film which all ages can enjoy. The basketball game's final scene is a moving display of sacrifice you won't soon forget.

I can only review what I saw in the movie theater last year. The VHS and DVD are not available to the public yet (today is 11/1/01). Anyone here who claims to rate the DVD obviously has a beef with the producers or something.

The simple fact is "The Basket" won every top family entertainment awards and also beat-out the best Hollywood could offer. It is Dove Foundation Approved for Family Viewing. "The Basket" tells a great story set in the Pacific Northwest in 1918 during WWI. It combines an Original German Opera with the invention of a new game called 'Basket Ball.' Its a drama about team-work and a community coming together during tough times. Opera fans, sports fans, Peter Coyote fans, Karen Allen fans, 'Why-Can't-Hollywood-Make-Good-Movies-Anymore' fans have alot to love about this movie. Thanks, "BetterNot"

I originally saw this film on a flight to Germany last April. I guess you can't tell a book by it's cover, so when I saw the title "The Basket", I thought it couldn't be all that good. I put my book down, put on the head phones and was immediately drawn into the story and the characters. By the end, I was thoroughly impressed and noted that this film had to be one of the best I'd seen in years. It's such a great story, the music was great, and the scenery was fantastic. Since last April, I've been patiently waiting for the CD to come out, now that I have it, I've watched it a dozen times. I'll be watching for more films by Rich Cowan.

Forgive me to indulge myself with my appreciation for this film and its excellent representation on rural farm life during the WWI era. While the film is about a rural farming community in the Pacific Northwest, because of its brilliantly historical likeness to many small farm communities in this era it is a symbolic story of American farm life in the early 20th Century.

The film places itself somewhere in the late summer through early fall of 1918 (before the Influenza outbreaks in October 1918 [for the Pacific Northwest region]) and before the Armistice in November 1918. The central characters are two orphan refugees from Germany who are sent to live with the local preacher/doctor. The townspeople of course didn't wholly welcome their new-orphaned neighbors. The movie plays itself out between the one-room schoolhouse and the farm families and their struggles to cope with social, cultural, and economic strains resulting from the times and the war.

The "war to end all wars" was a blessing and a curse to American farmers. This film represents both ends of the spectrum. Sadly, WWI proved more of a curse than a blessing. Farmers, if they planned and timed themselves well, without throwing themselves into debt, could make a substantial amount of money on wheat and other agricultural related products. For most farmers, however, the war brought about extreme labor shortages, increased inflation, increased debt and greater reliance on mortgages. Socially and culturally the war brought about unchecked patriotism that resulted in hostilities towards German Americans and German war refugees, increased censorship and generally, an increased role of the Federal Government. The war took its greatest toll on farm families (and communities) who sent they young "doughboys" to war. If they returned at all, they returned with immense social, mental and physical scaring.

In the end, after watching this film, you'll come out of the experience emotionally moved, historically aware and personally enriched.

I wrote the music for "The Basket" so I'm not going to offer my opinion of the content. I will say that I have heard literally hundreds of responses. Most people love the movie with a very personal intensity. It is not unusual that someone cries when describing their favorite scenes. On the other hand a small number of people I have spoken with hated this movie so much that it made them irrational. I have even received obscene phone calls about it. It makes some individuals that angry. Puzzling but true. If you like sex in your movies, or violence, with macho male heroes and sexpot female heroines, and the F word sprinkled throughout this ain't your movie. But there are plenty out there for you. I think that's why it appeals without exception to retired age individuals. It harkens back to a time when movies were about storyline, not special effects and jarring shocking content. Love to you all, Don Caron

Never expect Hollywood to change and make a mature movie with a mature story line for the whole family, like "The Basket." I've been to one movie theater in the last 20 years. My wife dragged me; it was "The Basket." I was stunned like alot of the other people in the theater. They stayed and applauded through the music accompanying the credits. Maybe you don't have to be a little kid to appreciate a clean family movie.

There was indeed sufficient time for German orphans to have been brought to America before the War's end. U.S. General Pershing under President Woodrow Wilson refused to engage in combat until American soldiers controled the strategy and fighting of the trench war under the Ameican flag. U.S. Doughboys sat idle in Europe for over a year before entering the combat in 1917; until that time, the U.S. supplied war materials and humanitarian aid: to refugees, German Orphans, who were sent back on American troop carriers because France didn't want them).

Opera was the recorded 'rock-music' of the early 20th Century. The term 'Soap Opera' was a radio/television format which portrayed social and very personal issues. Mozart broke new ground with his German operas in the later 18th Century and the subject matter was considered racy but for the quality of his music.

There was no fewer that 200 automobiles and farm equipment manufacturers between the period of 1910-1929. Today there are a handful of each. The competition was fierce and the war-time spending in 1914-1918 advanced technology and improvements beyond normal standards.

One more thing, the historically accurate basketball scenes were created with the mentor of people at "Hoop Town U.S.A" Hall of Fame, Springfield, Mass.

Enough said? Except, in my opinion, this is the best family movie I've ever seen. It played in Monterey for over six weeks, where many of my friends had a chance to see it on the big screen. I sure the DVD will be amazing.

Beautiful cinematography.
Wonderful story.
Original opera score.
Fantastic acting.
The best family movie made in 40 years.

If you want a picture that makes you "feel good" then this is the one. It is simple to watch but you are never left with "pre digested" thoughts for you on this one. It is true to the human intellect. You will wonder about the small German childs mind and what he must be thinking when he is rebuffed by Americans in whose care he is placed. Your heart will sail with the affection of the young German girl's attention for a man whose brother just passed away from the effects of a leg blown off by a German's gun. All in all it was a great movie that took us back to a much simpler time.