Forget the fun of Uncle Drew or from Space Jam, Amateur challenges itself to tackle a taboo subject, that of corruption at the non-professional level in the world of American sports. The film also questions the morality of the NCAA system: a lucrative business for all its actors, except for the players, who are forbidden to touch the slightest penny, whether for their performance or their brand image.
Released in 2018, Amateur is a Netflix production which tells the story of a young prodigy of the orange ball, who then in 4th is recruited by a high school known for its basketball program (the high school starts in 3rd in the United States) to play with the team first. The young Terron Forte will then discover a world where corruption and greed often reign on the backs of players. Despite a difficult start within the team, Terron will gradually find his marks and become a centerpiece of the workforce. He will even become a national prospect and receive several university offers for a scholarship (stock exchange) in exchange for his services on the floor. But the point guard will face a suspicious coach, a father with mental problems because of an unsuccessful football career and a mother worried about her son’s future, especially after the failure of her husband who forces the family to live on odd jobs. In addition, Terron also suffers from a condition since he cannot read the numbers correctly, for example forcing his coach to shout out loud the seconds remaining on the clock at the end of the match. Many revelations, which we will let you discover, will punctuate the end of a film that has the audacity to criticize the American university system, questioned by many people in recent years.
This subject, little we broached, and Amateur like a Collin Sexton against the Nets, with the nerve to do it. As a reminder, the NCAA categorically refuses that its basketball players, US football or bowling, touch a pesos for their sports activities. This ranges from the simple fact of being paid to play to the prohibition on the players touching the least dollar of the TV revenues, which amount to astronomical sums, or signing any contract related to their image. Recently, Golden State Warriors pivot James Wiseman had only played three games with his Memphis college before being suspended by the NCAA after an investigation revealed that his coach, Penny Hardaway Jr., paid 11,500. dollars in moving expenses to help him and his family move to the city of Memphis in 2017. Another story like this happened to another rookie in the 2020 Draft: LaMelo Ball. The player, who had nevertheless pledged allegiance to UCLA, was declared ineligible to play in the NCAA because he already had his signature shoes: the Ball’s Melo Ball 1 of Big Baller Brand. Amateur criticizes this system in part, particularly through the figure of a father, who after giving everything for a potential career as an American footballer lost everything overnight due to brain injury, finding himself with nothing and above all without any penny for n ‘have nothing could touch during his university career. Denouncing a system where coaches, agents and universities make money on the backs of players who are nevertheless the real players in this market, the father urges his son not to make the same mistakes as him and to think about him and him alone. Of the 18,000 basketball players who roam the NCAA, only 60 will be drafted and 30 of them will have a guaranteed contract in their first season. The NCAA college system offers no financial guarantees and very often these same players drop out of the school system, unable to complete both a very demanding athletic program and classes. Amateur is therefore a perfect way to look into this subject which is likely to cause even more debate in the years to come. The NCAA is losing its appeal and several NBA prospects have preferred to sign in the G League for the 2020-21 season, where they will have a salary, rather than going to risk getting injured on a university floor and losing everything. We will still regret an actor’s game that is not always taking and basketball scenes far from breathtaking.
Amateur is a movie about a big problem with the American amateur sports system. We follow a young prodigy who will face the corruption and greed of this system where everyone wants to have their say and their ticket to take. All except the players who, apart from a handful who end up pros, are always the losers in history.
Amateur
- Of : Ryan Koo
- With: Michael Rainey Jr.
- Native country : United States
- Genre : Sport, Drame
- Duration: 96 minutes
- Exit : April 6, 2018
Available on Netflix
