No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson

This is probably pushing it to describe this as a film, but it's 90 minutes on TV. So I'll count it. Steve James, who famously directed "Hoop Dreams" - one of the best sports documentaries in history - tells the tale of Allen Iverson's notorious upbringing in Hampton, VA which, coincidentially, is also James's hometown. While a prep phenom, Iverson was involved in a riot in a bowling alley. The racial overtones to the fight divided an already racially tense community and Iverson eventually went to prison for nearly a year before having his sentence commuted by Virginia's first black governor. It's an interesting story and while it's told in more detail than I've ever heard before, this movie misses by a long shot. James was unable to speak to Iverson or any of the principal characters of this narrative. He returns to his hometown and although this is the biggest thing to have happened there in this lifetime, no one will talk to him. Except for his own mother. He gets some accounts which give a perspective of the community, but the heart of the story is completely unexplored. Frankly, I don't know why this film even got made without access to Iverson. Also, James failed to really give much of a bio for Iverson after high school. It seems like an interesting story that remains untold.