Viewed in
2010
Formats
HD TV
Premise
Part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, a documentary about the 1983 Little League World Series champs from a small town in the state of Washington.
Liked
The history lesson.
Disliked
The extreme close ups.
Thoughts
I personally never knew this story, although my Taiwanese mother apparently knew a lot about it. Apparently it was a pretty dark day for Taiwan. Since it was told by the players and coaches from Kirkland, Washington, it had an underdog feel to it. Thanks to some archived footage and clear, vivid memories of the interviews, I got a good idea of their magical experience that year.
Most interesting part probably was the last third, which explored the negative aftermath on their star player. This must have been the beginning of public/media's cynical style of building someone up just to tear them down. The documentarians manipulated it to make it seem like a VH1 Behind the Music moment, but really, the only downward spiral was that he got disinterested in baseball. Nothing epic, though I am sure it was epic for a twelve year old.
What bothered me was the extreme close ups, including a nasty habit of the jerky zoom in during key moments of its subject's testimony.
It was a nice history lesson for me, but I did not find it as interesting or profound as others in the 30 for 30 series.
What I would change
Got rid of the jerky close ups.
