The Redeem Team

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⭐ 7.5/10

(Originally written by Tim)

This is a Netflix documentary on the US basketball team trying to reclaim gold at the 2008 Olympics. The setting is smack-dab in the middle of my peak love of basketball, where I idolized several members of this team and despised some others. It was interesting to see them all with a level head, and the nostalgia hit me really hard. Also, with Kobe's passing its hard not to watch this with that in mind, and the documentary really tries to elevate him to God status. They had me hook line and sinker.

My main complaint is that it doesn't feature enough basketball. It tries so hard to be patriotic, with Coach K giving all these dumb speeches about brotherhood and freedom and other army things. At the same time, it was charming to see how these players interacted with each other. The way they are building up their own legends totally works on me.

The coverage of the gold medal game is very good, and I found myself right back in my parents basement remembering watching that game. I wish they would have covered all the games like that. The American exceptionalism is on full display too, acting like their previous failure to win gold was the biggest disgrace in history. Feels quaint to hear them talking about that pain, especially since most players now are very vocal about what is going on in the world and acknowledge that there are things bigger than basketball.

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