It’s hard to find a more classic tragedy than Len Bias.  He was a Maryland basketball phenom, the #2 overall draft pick and the extender of the Celtics dynasty.  He achieved his greatest dream.  He had it ripped away in a dreadful night of stupidity, as an overdose of cocaine ended his life.

In Without Bias Kirk Fraser interweaves the recollections of his family, his teammates, those who covered him and those who were in the room when he died.  As they describe how they felt, he splices in the television footage of their reactions.  It was tear-jerking, brilliant and treated with the appropriate sentiment.  It captured the moment for those like myself not old enough to have witnessed it.

Though it had its moments, the film had two primary weaknesses that distinguish it from some of the better films in the series thus far.

Without Bias screamed for an objective narrative.

There are allusions to a hidden Bias.  A darker one.  He’s pictured hanging out in a Mercedes convertible.  The cocaine used was too pure to have been a first-time incident.  When Bias speaks throughout the film, he comes across as affable and intelligent.  In some interviews, he appeared to speak with the cadence of a drug user.

Fraser did nothing to harmonize these allusions with the sympathetic portrayals of him by friends and family.  Were the family naive?  It’s not an unsolved mystery.  The information is attainable.

I also felt the attempts to contextualize Bias’ death were scattershot and bizarre.  At the end of his death segment, the film jumps abruptly to a musical portrayal of the drug scene in Washington D.C.  Marion Berry comments uncritically.  There’s discussion of crack and the introduction of unfair mandatory drug laws.  It delves into his brother’s death and the fallout for Maryland basketball and his teammates.

No angle is given the necessary treatment to connect it fully.

Moreover, Without Bias missed an integral connection with the 1986 NBA Draft.  Chris Washburn, William Bedford and Roy Tarpley – top ten selections that year –  had careers tragically curtailed by drug problems as well.  Was that a plausible outcome for Bias?

The oddest part was the ending, literal to an almost comedic extent.  Bias says, “look at every situation as though it’s going to be the end of your life.”  A separate shot than shows him abruptly walking off camera.  It did not mesh with the earlier sensitivity.

Without Bias presented Bias’ death adeptly, butm, when asked to contextualize it, it raised more questions than it answered.