'The Other Dream Team'
U.S. Cinema Documentary
Three and one-half-stars

The fun documentary "The Other Dream Team" is much more than a simple
documentary about the Lithuanian basketball team winning a bronze
medal during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, but a heart-felt
portrait of how winning basketball games equating winning
independence for the small country from Soviet control, not just
during the Olympics but throughout the half-century that Soviets ran
the proud country. With interviews ranging from the Lithuanian
basketball players to Lithuanian heads of states, Bill Walton and
even Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead, the film is a feel-good story
in a year when many films are focused on economic and political woes.
One highlight of the film is a subplot focusing on a Lithuanian
basketball player's rise to become a high pick in the 2011 NBA draft
- a lasting reminder of the opportunities Lithuanians have because
of the path paved by the 1992 team. And, finally, as my wife can tell
you - you don't have to like basketball to enjoy this movie.

-- David Burger