The Basket, set in the United States during World War I, is a quiet family film about tolerance and basketball. German orphans Helmut and Brigitta are adopted by the pastor in the tiny farming town of Waterville, Washington. The people of Waterville are suspicious--both of the new "Huns" in town and new schoolteacher Mr. Conlon (Peter Coyote). Conlon sets the town abuzz by teaching (gasp!) German opera and showing his students a new game from the east called basketball. Can the small-town hayseeds beat the juggernaut team, the Spokane Spartans? Will Helmut get to play? And what about that new tractor everybody wants? The Basket doesn't generate quite the excitement of, say, Hoosiers, but it is not a bad movie at all and is beautifully shot, to boot. It's also a great way to teach kids that it isn't as easy as you might think to spot the bad guys. --Ali Davis
2.
When Martin Conlon (Coyote) arrives in a small town in the Pacific Northwest as America is reeling from World War I, he brings with him a message of love and teamwork. Conlon uses his position as a schoolteacher to introduce the game of basketball to the community. After a group of German refugees settle in the town, tensions mount. Conlon uses an approaching basketball game--between his students and a much older squad--to teach the town a very valuable lesson about unity and understanding.
3.
In the tradition of Hoosiers, this triumphant, heartwarming film follows the hopes of a small farming community whose lives are transformed by a strange new game called basketball.
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