The Great Debaters

Synopsis

A fiery and intelligent group of students from the historically black Wiley College are hand picked to form a debate team under the leadership of professor Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington). Tolson’s leadership, combined with his student’s desire to overcome obstacles and compete equally in a segregated south, guides the team all the way to a historic debate against top-notch Harvard University.

Review

An uplifting movie with a phenomenal Academy Award winning cast. You can't get better than Oscar winner (and director for this movie) Denzel Washington (Training Day, American Gangster) and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland). The monologues delivered by this cast—which in many cases were of course their debates—gave me chills. With an oversized lump in my throat, and tears full of many emotions, I wanted to listen intently to every word. This movie shows African Americans in a beautiful positive light. I love it. It’s loosely based off of a true story about the Historic Black Wiley college debate team that works hard to get to a status where they can debate an undefeated team, Harvard University. I state 'loosely' because most stories that are based off of true events are so embellished. In this case, Debaters will have you hoping all 120 minutes are straight from the history books.

It’s 1935, and College Professor Melvin B. Tolson (Washington) is the coach of Wiley's powerful debate team, which he coaches in his home. He thinks of debating as a 'blood sport.' Debating is depicted in this movie as a sport of articulation, research, deliverance, wit and knowledge. Tolson's team made up all of these characteristics. Tolson didn't hold back. He only produced the best and believed in his team. I think everyone should have a leader and motivator in their lives like him.

I was impressed with the dialogue, drama, action, tension, and just the overall entertainment dynamic of The Great Debaters. I would have liked to see more debates since the actors Jurnee Smollett (Eve's Bayou, Rollbounce), Denzel Whitaker (no relation to Forrest Whitaker, or Denzel, but the name has the makings of a love child!) and Nate Parker (Pride) do it so well. They all mentioned when they were being interviewed on Oprah, that Washington made them practice debating real teams to make their characters more believable. It would also have been great to not only seen the affirmative debated, but the negative too. The explanation of both was explained by Tolson, but the team never debated the negative. The topics and issues they had to debate on were always in their favor of taking the affirmative stance anyway. Even though these few debates move the story forward, the writer Robert Eisele also makes it seem forced. I felt a little like I was rooting for my college basketball team on opening night, and the next week they were in the national championship.

There are a few intense scenes and of course a movie that is set back in 1935 needs to have a lynching scene, to be, sadly, authentic. We can't forget that negroes were lynched back then. They had the poor man swinging like a pendulum burnt to a crisp at one part. This scene creates a domino effect of issues. Obstacles and issues makes a movie intense and move forward. And Debaters delivers this in a nice package. This film is exciting and makes you want to read something political to debate your friends or family. Great movie to see for any time. An inspirational, under-dog and brilliant film like this shouldn't be missed. 

My Rating ~ 4 Reels

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