Stevie (2003)
Directed by Steve James
Written by Documentary
Starring Stevie Fielding, Steve James
Release Date April 11th, 2003
Published July 4th, 2003
In 1994, Steve James took us inside the lives of a pair of rising basketball stars in Hoop Dreams. We watched as these two naive kids tried to navigate the world of big time college basketball, all the while still in high school. Roger Ebert called Hoop Dreams the best film of 1994, and it's difficult to argue with that. Now after a brief respite in the world of fiction directing, James returns to the documentary field with a very personal story that draws from his own past and brings him out from behind the camera and into the story.
Before launching his career in documentary filmmaking, Steve James was a college student who volunteered for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, an organization that pairs volunteers with needy kids who need guidance and a good role model. It was here that Steve came across Stevie, a young boy from a troubled home. It wasn't long though before circumstances intervened that caused Steve and Stevie to part ways. Some ten years later James is back home to promote Hoop Dreams and takes time to drop in on Stevie. What he finds is ten years of sadness, pain and familial strife all centered around Stevie.
Originally, James didn't plan on being on camera with exception of the film’s introduction. He had planned on hiding behind the camera and not getting overly involved. However what he found upon visiting Stevie was a kid that needed someone to talk to, who desperately needed guidance and with no father figure in Stevie's life, James unwillingly accepts the role.
In the time James spends with Stevie, learning about his past and all that happened since they last saw each other, we find out the horrors that awaited him. In those ten years, Stevie bounced from foster home to foster home, he was beaten and molested and has become very bitter towards his mother who gets most of the blame for his wrong turn in life. To be fair, James interviews Stevie's mother who explains her side, though she doesn't come off very sympathetic. Stevie also expresses some bitterness toward James who he feels abandoned him.
Over the course of months and years of off and on contact, James chronicles Stevie's odd life. From battles with his sister and mother to Stevie going to jail on a charge that James isn't sure is true. The final scenes culminate in a jailhouse interview in which James has to accept some hard truths about Stevie and excise some of his guilt, however unfounded that guilt is.
Stevie as a character is truly shocking and sad. The stereotype of white trash may have started with Stevie, he's violent, crude, ignorant, lazy and a racist. He's also occasionally sweet and caring, especially with his mentally handicapped girlfriend even if that relationship is as dysfunctional as any in Stevie's life. Stevie is impossible to like and especially care about. Even so, he's been through a lot in his life and certainly a lot of people let Stevie down throughout his life.
As for Steve James the filmmaker, he does earn our sympathy and watching his reaction to Stevie is truly emotional and sad. It's easy to see why James gave up on little Stevie and you don't blame him for walking away from him at the end. James did everything he could for Stevie but now with a family of his own, especially having his own little children, he can't continue to help Stevie. No good deed goes unpunished yet James seems to get nothing but punishment from his relationship with Stevie.
