| Benji | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Coodie and Chike |
Release date |
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Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Benji: The True Story of a Dream Cut Short is a 2012 American documentary film about Chicago South Side basketball player Ben Wilson, a star athlete with promising career prospects who played for Simeon Career Academy and was shot and killed. The film debuted at the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival on April 20, 2012. [1] [2] The Tribeca viewing was a world premiere. [3] [4]
The film was presented three times on three different screens at the film festival: April 20 at 6:00PM (BMCC Tribeca PAC), April 21 at 3:30PM (SVA Theater 1 Silas) and April 28 at 9:30PM (Tribeca Cinemas Theater 1). [1]
ESPN HS recognizes Wilson as the best American high school basketball player in the national class of 1985 based on play during the 1983–84 season, acknowledged by his selection as the 1984 National Junior of the Year. [5] Wilson led Simeon to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state championship in 1984 as a junior. [6] Simeon poised for defense of its state championship with transfers that included Nick Anderson. [6] Like Chicago South Sider, Anthony Davis, Wilson experienced a tremendous growth spurt in high school that he was able to endure without loss of agility and coordination. [6] Like Chicago South Sider Jabari Parker, he was preparing to lead his team in defense of its state title as the presumptive best player in the nation. [6] Directors Coodie and Chike come from a music video background that includes Kanye West's Through the Wire. [6] Coodie Simmons was a 13-year-old seventh-grader from the Beverly community area at the time of the shooting of Wilson, which was the 669th death in Chicago that year. [7]
Wilson was shot and killed following an altercation with other youths near Simeon. [6] The wake and funeral served as a gathering for thousands of Chicagoans to face their grief. [6] Subsequent city homicide rates declined due to public awareness, renewed activism, and legislation regarding improved emergency response. [6] Wilson continues to represent the dream of Chicago youth to achieve the ultimate athletic excellence by becoming the number one player in the nation. [6] Derrick Rose wore Wilson's number 25 when he played for Simeon. [8] Parker had the number 25 stitched into the team sneakers during his time at Simeon. [6]
This film documents the November 1984 death of Wilson, who was regarded as the best basketball player in the country, but was shot the day before his senior season of high school basketball was to begin and died the next morning. The film documents the cultural ripple effects of his life and death. It documents the contemporaneous impact of the death on those closest to Wilson, such as Anderson, and the long-run influence of his death on Chicago's youth, such as Parker.
Billy Moore, the young man who fired the shots that killed Wilson, also appears in the film to give what he claimed was the first time he got a chance to tell his side of the story. Others who appear include Erica Murphy, who was friends with both Moore and Wilson and who was there when the shooting took place; Sonny Vaccaro, who ran the camp where Wilson impressed the observers enough to be ranked top in the nation; Wilson's brothers Curtis Glenn, Anthony Wilson, and Jeffrey Wilson, rapper Common and singer R. Kelly, both of whom grew up with Wilson; WMAQ-TV's Warner Saunders, who was one of the first to receive news of the shooting; Kenneth Malatesta, the Cook County prosecutor who tried the case against Moore; and Isaiah Gant, Moore's attorney. Jetun Rush, Wilson's girlfriend and mother of his child, was contacted but declined to take part.
Neil Best of Newsday stated that the movie "packs the emotional punch you would expect of a story about the death of a high school basketball star that rocked Chicago in 1984" and that the directors "capture the sad story of Ben Wilson through effective use of archival video and compelling interviews". [9] ESPN HS /ESPN.com writer Lucas O'Neill states that the directors "...assembled an impressive collection of friends, family members, writers and celebrities to tell Wilson’s story." [6] O'Neill noted that among the critical junctures of the film were Anderson's receipt of the phone call with news of the death and Parker's appearance in the film as almost a new incarnation of Wilson. [6] Mina Hochberg of Outside describes the story as both inspiring and haunting and describes the documentary as "...too rhapsodic—Wilson’s legacy could easily have been preserved without so much mythologizing. In the end, though, it effectively captures that wistful sense of what-if..." [10] IndieWire states that the film is an embodiment of the spirit of the 30 for 30 series formerly produced by ESPN. [11] IndieWire also notes that "...the doc inadvertently takes some out of the sting of his death. Chasing the murderer unmoors the documentary as well...While the doc tends to wander...it's hard to fault the filmmakers for closing all the loops. It does make for a tale not quite as uplifting and satisfying as it seems to be at first, but it’s still a honest, striking and emotionally stirring chronicle of a promising life cut down way too soon." [11]
Benjamin Wilson Jr. was an American high school basketball player from Chicago, Illinois. Wilson, a Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School basketball player, was regarded as the top high school player in the U.S. by scouts and coaches attending the 1984 Athletes For Better Education basketball camp. Wilson is noted as the first Chicago athlete to receive this honor. On November 21, 1984, Wilson died due to injuries he sustained in a shooting the day before.
Sherwin David "Wood" Harris is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his role as Motaw in the Jeff Pollack film Above the Rim (1994), prior to portraying high school football player Julius Campbell in the Walt Disney Pictures film Remember the Titans (2000) and Jimi Hendrix in the Showtime television film Hendrix (2000). He attained further recognition for his portrayal of drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO crime drama The Wire (2002–2008). Harris also played the role of cocaine dealer Ace, based on the life of Azie Faison, in the crime film Paid in Full in 2002.
The Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois.
Neal F. Simeon Career Academy, locally known simply as Simeon, is a public four-year vocational high school located in the Chatham area on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Simeon is a part of the Chicago Public Schools district. Opened in 1949, The school is named for African-American Chicago Public Schools educator and administrator Neal Ferdinand Simeon.
Robert S. "Sonny" Parker is an American former professional basketball player who played small forward and shooting guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft after attending and playing basketball at Texas A&M University. After retiring from basketball, Parker created the Sonny Parker Youth Foundation in Chicago to help inner-city students.
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Derrick Martell Rose is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the Memphis Tigers before being drafted first overall by his hometown Chicago Bulls in the 2008 NBA draft. Nicknamed "D-Rose", and sometimes referred to as "The Windy City Assassin" or simply "Pooh", he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2009 and became the youngest player to win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2011 at the age of 22 years and 7 months.
E'Twaun Donte Moore is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Phoenix Suns. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 2011 NBA draft after playing college basketball at Purdue University. In high school, he led East Chicago's Central High School to an IHSAA state championship.
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Jabari Ali Parker is an American professional basketball player for FC Barcelona of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, after one season of playing for Duke University. He played four seasons for the Bucks. Then, he played with 5 different teams over the course of 4 more NBA seasons. Parker was a standout high school athlete, helping his team win four straight Illinois state championships for Simeon Career Academy, and was named the National High School Player of the Year by Gatorade and McDonald's. In his freshman year for the 2013–14 Duke Blue Devils, he was named a consensus first-team All-American, the USBWA National Freshman of the Year, and the runner-up for the John R. Wooden Award.
An All-American team is an honorary sports team composed of the best amateur players of a specific season—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply "All-Americans". Although the honorees generally do not compete together as a unit, the term is used in U.S. team sports to refer to players who are selected by members of the national media. Walter Camp selected the first All-America team in the early days of American football in 1889. Chuck Taylor made the first boys' high school basketball All-American selections in 1949. The ESPN RISE boys' high school basketball All-American (2009–2011), formerly EA Sports boys' high school basketball All-American (2005–2008) and Student Sports boys' high school basketball All-American (1989–2004), is an annual honorary list that includes twenty first team All-American selections of the best high school basketball players for a given season.
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Ben Wilson, an American high school basketball star from Neal F. Simeon High School in Chicago, Illinois, USA, was shot in the neighborhood surrounding the school during its lunch hour on November 20, 1984. Wilson died from injuries sustained in the shooting the following morning.
Bulls guard Derrick Rose hasn't always worn No.1. Back in high school at Simeon (Chicago), Rose paid tribute to local legend Ben "Benji" Wilson by wearing No. 25. The nation's No. 1 high school basketball prospect in 1984, Wilson was murdered by gang members.