Giannis film gives Rise to new thoughts

I recently saw the film Rise, a biopic about the Antetokounmpo family. From the parents having to leave their eldest son behind in Nigeria as they tried to make a new life for their family in Europe to the eventual 2013 NBA draft where the Milwaukee Bucks drafted middle child Giannis, this film follows the family’s trials and tribulations as immigrants in Greece. It’s a fairly well put together movie, with convincing performances from Dayo Okeniyi and Yetide Badaki as Charles and Vera Antetokounmpo and managing to hit the emotional beats that could have rang hollow given the overall feel good, Disney-safe direction. The story is one of hardwork, dedication, and the strength of family and gives audiences a glimpse into the source of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s competitive yet humble drive for greatness.

In that regard, I could not help but feel inspired. Which, given the title of the film, is probably the ultimate goal of the production. Moments like Giannis speaking with a Nike rep about how he and his older brother, Thanasis, had to share a pair of sneakers for their games or seeing his parents watching from Greece as their son was drafted land well, especially after witnessing the obstacles that needed to be overcome in order for the family to even reach that point. If you are looking for lighter affair with an excellent cast and a theme that will leave you wanting to get out there and work on whatever goals you have set out for yourself, Rise is a perfect fit.

That being said, there were two other sticking points for me while I mulled over the film after the credits had rolled.

First, I think the film does a good job showing that there are humans with very human plights behind these star professional athletes. I can remember when the Bucks picked Giannis, there were groans and mumblings about the pick, and from a fan’s standpoint, it certainly seemed a bit questionable. But when you watch the story unfold before you, how his family could have been split up for years, perhaps forever, if Giannis had not been picked, it certainly puts a different context on the situation.

I think too often, we look at professional athletes as we would their electronic counterparts in a Madden or NBA 2K video game. A collection of stats and attributes and lacking the same humanity as their virtual facsimiles. How many times have we as sports fans complained about a player who is constantly injured, or a youngster who is underperforming, or a player who wants more money or speaks their mind in public? It’s easy to do when we see them as nothing more than faceless commodities. But there are very human desires and struggles behind each of these superstars, and to forget that takes away from the heart of sport in general. The amount of hate and death threats that Marques Valdez-Scantling received last year after a key drop is just one example of how, if taken to an extreme, this behavior can be detrimental to both the players and the football community at large.

Second, many of the conflicts that the family faced were due to their status as illegal immigrants, first in Turkey and then later in Greece. The film depicts the frustration caused by the catch-22 path to citizenship, where one needs a well paying, full time job in order to become a citizen, but in order to get such a job, one needs to be a citizen. The family is constantly on guard around the police, running from them on several occasions. Even their family name, which is more accurately written as Adetokunbo, is warped and changed by this system. Even if they were truly legal immigrants, they would still face the unfriendly stares on the bus to their games or the hostile shouts from opponents on the court on a daily basis. And this is all shown in a mostly family-friendly fashion, the Disney-fication of the situation likely hiding the more disturbing aspects of this particular aspect of the family’s life.

I think this shows how this is not just an American problem, but a human one. Worldwide, there are issues of immigration and racism. There are bureaucratic systems in place that cause undue difficulty and suffering for those like the Antetokounmpo family, and despite what it may sometimes seem like, the United States is not the sole perpetrator of such things. That, of course, does not excuse them, but hopefully shows that attempts to fix such systems aren’t so much attacks on the United States as a country, but rather just an acknowledgement that we should try to solve a very real, human problem.

I’ll admit, I felt a small pride in being able to pronounce “Antetokounmpo” correctly. A bit humbling to learn that it isn’t even their real name, and proof that many feelings of such pride are just traps.

Still, I wonder how it feels to have the entire world know you by a name that isn’t even yours. I’m not sure how I would feel, nor can I pretend to know how Giannis and his family feels.

I just hope that, in the near future, the next superstar to rise will be able to run out onto the court with their version of “Adetokunbo” blazed across their back.

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW

NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD

REPORTER