Last Tuesday I had breakfast with filmmaker
Stacy Peralta over on the other side of town: Snug Harbor in Santa
Monica. The skate champ-turned-documentarian was in a downer mood. It
seemed odd that he was off as his new film, a frenetically beautiful
exploration of LA's black gangs called Made in America, stands out as a singular document of American tragedy. Even for me, someone who feels he knows about LA gangs, Made in America
is a deeply affecting film. I thought I knew, but I had no idea,
really. The G’s are so open with Peralta and his camera. It's
unpredictably the film this director was born to make: fatalistically
empathetic, hardcore.

Peralta produced the film with Golden State Warriors point guard Baron Davis, arguably the greatest basketball player ever to come out of Compton. It’s a trip that the Hollywood studios won’t bite on Made in America,
which got standing ovations and rave reviews in Utah. Long after
Sundance packed up in Park City, this outsider duo has yet to find distribution.
Studios keep telling them that black audiences won’t turn out for a
flick with such grim subject matter -- as if this story were only of
interest to black folks, who must only be fed pablum.
The documentary's $2 million budget is, as Peralta pointed out to me,
less than the craft-services tab on a summer blockbuster.

My own
opinion is that the conservative core of LA is ashamed of the civil
wars that have gone on in South Los Angeles, and that it’s literally
against the rules of Hollywood to help bring the people’s plight to
light. There, I said it.

Anyway, Davis isn’t the guy to be stopped on his way to a goal. So it seems almost certain that the film will find distribution, even if Davis and his production partners have to put the thing out themselves.

While
the NBA is rightfully throwing its arms around Chris Paul and, to a
lesser extent, Deron Williams, West Coast legend Davis has flitted
around the periphery of league consciousness. His is an aficionado’s game. And the league is actually starting to recognize him with publicity.

Before
picking up the breakfast tab, Peralta reminded me that young Baron’s
parents had drug problems, so his grandparents took him in. They and
basketball saved him from the streets, and Davis learned everything
he'd need for his current games upon earning a basketball scholarship
to Crossroads High School. It's telling that while Davis is on his greatest stage, his equally famous high school teammate — the one whose tutelage was mostly from the streets — is re-viewing old gangsta lessons.  Made in America
tells us all we need to know about the streets, as well as who made
them the hell they can be. If no one but me and those fans at Sundance
are the only people who see the film, I'm better for Davis and Peralta
for telling the story.

Donnell Alexander is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Sports & Fitness. He posts Mondays and Thursdays.