Overrated

One of the best films i have seen

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is an extremely heart-felt and powerful documentary not only on basketball and the country of Lithuania, but also about freedom, national pride, and the human spirit. I had no idea, before viewing this movie, that basketball is the #1 sport in Lithuania, and has been so for many decades. However, when the nation fell under the yoke of the Soviet Union's Iron Curtain, in 1940, Lithuania basketball players were forced to compete as Russians on the world stage.At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the United States had been 84-1 in Olympic competition, but the Soviet team defeated them. Four of the starting five players on that team were from Lithuania, including Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunus Marciulionis, who are featured mainly in the film, and who went on eventually to play in the NBA.One highlight of the documentary was film footage of the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence, in January 1991, after the Berlin Wall had come down and after Mikhail Gorbachev's announcement of "perestroika". However, Gorbachev would not accept their independence and sent in tanks and troops leading to bloodshed. When Lithuanians came out en masse to protest and resist, and pressure was applied from the West, Russia backed down and withdrew leading to Lithuania becoming independent after all.This lead to their appearance, in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics, as a basketball team that could compete under their own country's banner. Since the nation was essentially bankrupt a most unusual funding relationship developed between the musical band "The Grateful Dead" and the Lithuanian basketball team, which included wild and colorful tie-dye T-shirts.This helped the team to compete at the Olympics, but it was also the year of U.S. Dream Team, the greatest assemblage of basketball players ever, including such notables as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley etc. etc. The Lithuanians and the Americans were in the same bracket, with both teams sweeping through their preliminary games, to meet in the semi-finals where the U.S. just overwhelmed the Lithuanians (and went on to win the Gold Medal over Croatia). The story doesn't end there though, as the Lithuanians would now play their bitter rivals the Russians (as the Unified Team) for the bronze medal. The Lithuanians defeated the Russians in a game with enormous political as well as sports implications. This set off a tremendous wave of national pride throughout Lithuania, that they could compete and win under their own flag finally.All in all, this heart-felt documentary had me engrossed from start to finish and I felt it was extremely well presented, by producer and director Marius Markevicius. It's one of the best documentaries I've seen in recent years.

"The Other Dream Team" is about Lithuanian basketball from the mid-1980s to today--with a particular emphasis on how this all relates to Lithuanian independence from the old Soviet Union. It seems that this tiny nation was the backbone of the 1988 gold medal basketball team. But what would happen when the USSR fell apart? And, how would this new team help to unify the nation? The film consists of tons of interviews, film clips and photos. Together they tell an inspiring story. In many ways, this is highly reminiscent of another film---one about Lithuania's neighbor, Latvia. In "The Singing Revolution", it talks about this same time period--when these people in a tiny nation stood firm against their Soviet overlords. However, instead of basketball unifying the country, it was their heritage of music. Both are simply terrific films--the sort of well-crafted documentaries that leave you choked up. Great films about freedom and the human spirit.

I had the great expectations from this movie and I waited for it very long time. As a basketball and documentary aficionado I have to say that the film is pretty good. Montage, archive footage, interviews, good music...and on top of all it's very touching. However I have one remark. We all know that Lithuania is great basketball country but there was one other with similar path. Shattered small state in independence war. That country is Croatia. It was great rivalry between them and I, as a Croat, think that documentary should have mentioned it. Dražen Petrovićs, basketball's Mozart first and last Olympics as a Croat. It is not all about dream teams and US-a. Maybe too much information for average viewer in the beginning but then; the rest will flow. Congratiulations to Lithuania for this national project. One more great sports (and more) documentary.

I had heard what this film was about, but really wasn't prepared for the history lesson I was about to receive. It was great! Since I am sort of a history buff, it was wonderful to hear true accounts from people who grew up in Lithuanian during this fight for Independence. To be honest, I didn't know much about Lithuanian history (or at least from this perspective), and I love to be shocked by documentaries. And shock me, it did. Along with the historical aspect in this film, you have an underdog (well, not athletically speaking – they were all very talented) sports story. These insanely tall, insanely talented Lithuanians were more than just a basketball team. They were revolutionaries fighting for their country. They weren't just playing basketball to play basketball; they were playing to prove a point. They felt they had to prove themselves not only to their adversaries, but also to their supporters that they were worthy and strong enough to be independent. And they used Olympic basketball to do that. This film is a brave story of freedom. It has a lovely combination of comedy, drama and suspense (even if you already know what happens), and you won't leave any screening of this documentary disappointed.