Rise: A slam dunk

Rise (2022) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG, for brief minor profanity

Available via: Disney+

By Derrick Bang

In a perfect world, talent would trump race, creed, nationality, citizenship and any other artificial barriers erected to discourage it.

 

But sometimes, even in our imperfect world, perseverance triumphs.

 

Charles (Dayo Okeniyi, center) and his two sons — Thanasis (Ral Agada, left) and
Giannis (Uche Agada) — aren't about to let a little bit of rain interrupt some
high-spirited hoop action.

Director Akin Omotoso’s deeply moving film is based on the jaw-dropping life story of the Antetokounmpo family, and most particularly their resilient, resolute and devoted parents, Charles and Veronika. It’s the sort of saga that makes the rest of us take a hard look at our levels of ambition and productivity.

Given the blend of Nigerian heritage, Turkish and Greek locales, Arash Amel’s script can’t help acknowledging the racism, xenophobia and shelter uncertainty that the Antetokounmpo family face on a regular basis — over the course of many, many years — but the tone is more matter-of-fact than strident (which, honestly, makes each such encounter even more wrenching).

 

The story begins with a brief prologue in Turkey, as migrants Charles (Dayo Okeniyi) and Veronika (Yetide Badaki) are one panicked step ahead of thuggish immigration police. Driven to a drastic decision in order to cross the border — shades of Sophie’s Choice — they successfully flee into Greece.

 

Several years pass. Charles and Veronika work hard at a variety of menial jobs, while raising two young sons, Giannis (McColm Cephas Jr.) and Thanasis (Chinua Baraka Payne). Their meager incomes are supplemented by hawking sunglasses and other colorful knickknacks in Athens tourist zones: a dodgy activity that occasionally attracts the wrong sort of attention from the Greek police.

 

The boys develop an interest in soccer.

 

More time passes. Giannis and Thanasis have grown into lithe, lanky teenagers (now played by actual brothers Uche and Ral Agada); the family has been augmented by additional young sons Kostas (Jaden Osimuwa) and Alexandros (Elijah Sholanke). 

 

Charles and Veronika have begun quietly careful efforts to become legal, but the system is deliberately designed to thwart this: They need proof of “real” jobs in order to achieve citizenship, but they must be citizens in order to be hiredinto “real” jobs. The immigration clerk seems kind, but she’s utterly useless. (We want to reach into the screen and smack her.)