Alaskan Nets

Alaskan Nets is a 2021 documentary woven around the lives of two childhood friends grappling for a winning shot, against the backdrop of a remote native Alaskan village known as Metlakatla. This cinematic presentation offers an eye-opening, engrossing, and inspiring tale of perseverance, commitment, and the power of sports to transform the lives of individuals and whole communities.

Directed by Jeff Harasimowicz, Alaskan Nets weaves a tale of unlikely heroes DJ King and Danny Marsden, who emanate from a secluded island in Southeast Alaska. The island of Metlakatla is the only native reserve in Alaska, where a large salmon fishing industry has supported the community for generations. However, life here is fraught with minor and major trials and tribulations. The community battles stark economic realities, high unemployment rates, and is besieged by the lasting effects of historical injustices.

DJ King and Danny Marsden, the leads in the story, summon an enduring spirit of resilience in this isolated community. Both exhibits an unbeatable spirit and determination to raise the spirits of their community, their dreams firmly pinned on the high school boys basketball team, the Chiefs.

High school basketball is more than just a game in Metlakatla; it's a beacon of hope, a source of community pride and a major part of their local culture. The team, the Chiefs, is coached by Marsden, and the talented King is the team's star player. Their shared goal is to bring home the state championship – a feat that hasn’t been achieved for over 30 years. The duo's lives mirror the community's collective struggle — the intertwining of joy, sorrow, perseverance, and hope, reflecting the vanishing native Alaskan way of life.

Alaskan Nets isn’t just about basketball. It’s about dreams and strength in the face of insurmountable odds. It’s about the courage to lose, and the courage to win. By capturing the dynamics of the team’s journey to the state championship, the film paints a portrait of a small, tight-knit community that finds solace and purpose in the adrenaline-filled world of basketball.

Interposed with enthralling basketball sequences and breathtaking panorama are the realities of the commercial fishing industry that sustain the people of Metlakatla. The movie showcases how the community is integrally linked with their environment, as they depend heavily on the cash economy provided by the salmon fishing industry for survival. In this beautiful but unforgiving landscape, the struggles of daily life is portrayed through the practices of subsistence and commercial fishing.

The film portrays the nodes of passion, loss, redemption and community in a stunning and heartfelt manner. It is as much about basketball as it is about salmon fishing, and ultimately, about a community's strive for survival and identity while battling adversity. Life, for the people of Metlakatla, is a game of survival, just as the Chiefs' journey towards the championship is about more than just a sporting victory.

The director, Jeff Harasimowicz, captures these themes with stunning intimacy and visual poetry. Enabled by sharp cinematography, Alaskan Nets showcases beautiful long shots of Alaskan landscapes that coalesce perfectly with the grit of the basketball court, creating an unmatched visual storytelling.

Alaskan Nets, in essence, is an ode to the endurance of human spirits in the face of harsh realities. It is a testament to the simple, yet profound, ways sports offer escape, engender solidarity and evoke a sense of community pride. The film ventures beyond being a sports or fishing documentary, and offers a candid look into an untapped culture struggling to keep its identity alive in the modern and rapidly changing world.

Overall, Alaskan Nets is a beautifully directed and tactfully narrated account of an isolated community's struggles, hopes, and resilience, all captured through the journeys of two determined individuals and their shared love for basketball. Its heartwarming narrative and compelling visuals make it an enthralling watch, one that leaves viewers with a renewed appreciation for the power of unity, tradition, and the human spirit.