If you remember anything from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, it’s probably America’s basketball “dream team” — superstars like Charles Barkley, Larry Bird and Chris Mulllin united in glamorously, stylishly trouncing every other team in the world. But a couple notches down on the medal podium was the “other” dream team, superstars from basketball-obsessed (who knew?) Lithuania, carrying all the aspirations of their newly liberated republic on their shoulders. In the underdog-loving, longshot-favoring world of sports documentaries, one can generally expect the most unlikely victors — if given enough camera time — to overcome the odds. The Other Dream Team, the first full-length feature by writer-director Marius Markevicius, faces the challenge of breaking new ground while traveling that well-trodden path. But even robbed of suspense, the Lithuanians’ journey to somewhere improbably near the top makes for a compelling tale: a wild ride that wanders far afield from the basketball court, into life under communist Soviet occupation (just try building your own basketball court in between standing in line for bread), the battle for personal and national independence, and even America’s libertine rock’n’roll counterculture in the form of the Grateful Dead, who wander into the mix to endow the players with generous funding and kick-ass tie-dye wardrobes. As the NBA season begins — and a handful of Lithuanian stars, benefiting from this legacy, take the court — The Other Dream Team is guaranteed to renew your faith in basketball, if not in democracy.
