Len Bias Funeral

Maryland is focusing on the ESPN film series “30 for 30” with Kirk Fraser’s “Without Bias” premier this week. In this film, the death, career and impact of basket ball star Len Bias is shown.
This is most comprehensive, ambitious and uncompromising account of Bias’ life and death that is ever captured in any film. Fraser has included the comments of bias’ family, coaches, teammates, Washington area media types who reported him and his girl friend.

But the best element of the movie is the interviews of people describing what had actually happened on that fateful night with Bias when he died after taking cocaine in one of the rooms of University of Maryland. It is an effort to know the facts that asks questions from the people around him, forcing them to explain the causes of death. His girl friend says that she never saw him using drugs but the classmate, who was with him on that night and has four charges on him of cocaine use, says that he and bias had used cocaine before too.
But film does not contain a strong dramatic arc and in the end it feels more like a magazine rather than a movie. In the end it leaves sadness with questions about the sudden death of this young athlete. The film will be premiered tonight at 8:00 on ESPN.