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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Debate: This Film Is Great!, January 22, 2008
`The Great Debaters' offers what great movie viewing is all about. Based on a true story, the film takes us to Wiley, an African-American Methodist college in Texas during the Depression in 1935. Inspiring, harrowing, and uplifting, the film gives proper transcendence especially during a time and place that didn't offer many breaks.
We are first introduced to Professor Polson (Denzel Washington), a tenacious idealist and poet. As professor at Wiley and debate coach, he hardly yields on any of his principles. Inspired by the man who is named for the heinous lynching, Polson tells his debate recruits that it was in Lynch's best interests to keep Black people, "Physically strong, but psychologically weak." It is with this explanation that we understand his zealous approach to his debate team, and why he makes their training so rigorous.
Entering the field are forty-five tryouts, of which, only four will be selected: two representatives and two alternates. Of the three who make it, we get to know Henry Lowe (Nate Parker) a charismatic and bright figurehead who is easily distracted by beautiful women and hard liquor. Joining him are Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett), the first young woman to join the debate team, and James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker) forever young at age 14, but an ever resourceful scholar and son of a minister, James Farmer, Sr. (Forrest Whitaker). [No real life relations.] As he notices a romance start to blossom between his teammates, his resentment grows. As the one who researches many of the arguments Henry and Samantha provide on the podium, he is put on the sidelines both in terms of the limelight and the love light.
As you might guess, Wiley enjoys a certain amount of success, and the price of success is opposition. Polson spends a great deal of his time and rhetorical talent organizing a sharecroppers' union, much to the chagrin of Sheriff Dozier (John Heard) who won't have unrest in his sleepy Texas town. In one scene the Farmer family is making a trek by car on a rural country road as they pass a poor white farm. The children who seem so mischievous run alongside the car as they pass along, unaccustomed to seeing a "Negro" with an automobile. Perhaps distracted by the nearby children, he runs over a pig, and in a quietly intense exchange between Farmer, Sr. and the owner, is extorted of a month's paycheck. This reminded me of a similar scene in the 1980's movie, `Centennial,' and showed the contrast between a good film with a similar theme and a great one.
In another part, the debate team makes their way by night to their debate destination when they come across a truly horrible sight. What they see through the windshield reveals a mob of white men who don't like having their heinous deeds brought to light. Shaken, they each try to come to cope with their discovery as they often lose focus and courage in the face of Polson's opposition and the violence laid before them.
Always kept in check by their unyielding leader, the debate team holds out for all possible opportunity. Audacious but unflinching, Polson invites Harvard to a debate match. One of the master strokes of the movie is how the debates and their topics match the action that goes on all around them. Show and tell is mixed expertly for a meaningful movie experience.
`The Great Debaters' is a top-echelon movie experience. Although it is reminiscent of movies like Mississippi Burning, To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition), and Akeelah and the Bee it captures a fulfilling true life story in a way that doesn't feel like rehash or contain a wasted scene. (Directed by Denzel Washington and screenplay by Robert Eisele)
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A moving experience , January 1, 2008
Please allow me to give a brief summary of life for African Americans, circa 1935:
* "Jim Crow Laws" were in effect In the Southern US, requiring "separate but equal" facilities for Blacks and Whites, including schools, bathrooms, etc.
* African Americans weren't issued birth certificates by some States, thus denying them basic rights of existence
* African Americans were called Negroes--or worse, and treated accordingly
* If an Afican American wanted an education beyond high school, most went to private segregated colleges
Forgive me if you already know this, but for some, this brief history lesson is all the African American history they've had and this small amount will help understand the times and the people.
"The Great Debaters" takes place at Wiley College, a private Negro college, in Marshall, TX. The semester has just begun and it's time for tryouts for the debate team with Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) as the coach.
Out of 45 students, only 4 make the cut. That's two team members and two alternates. Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams) is the only returning student.
Henry Lowe (Nate Parker) is obviously the pick of the crop. He's so much of the same mind as Tolson, they could easily be enemies if they weren't aligned, but both men have their own demons chasing them. Samantha Booke, alternate, (Jumee Smollett), wants to be the third Negro woman to practice law in the State of Texas. She's ambitious and she nearly lets romance with Lowe get in her way. James Farmer, Jr., alternate, (Denzel Whitaker), is only 14 years old and being strongly pushed by his father Dr. James Farmer, Sr (Forest Whitaker, who is not related to him) to excel in his studies and not let the debate team get in his way.
Tolson's got an ambitious program started. From the beginning, he's writing top schools, challenging them to match wits with his students.
As the team wins, more invitations come in. Meanwhile, Tolson is privately leading an effort to form a union for the Black and White sharecroppers of the area. Unfortunately, the local farmers disapprove and the meeting's attacked with the local Sheriff in the lead. Tolson himself nearly goes to jail and loses one member of his team because he's got a dangerous reputation as a Communist.
"The Great Debaters" may not be completely accurate about the histories of the people it depicts, but it is an education to the times themselves. We learn some poignant lessons about the origin of the term lynching and see an example. We also learn about civil disobedience and what it really means--and costs--to stand up for what you believe in.
Some describe this as a 'feel good' or 'team' film and I don't dispute either of these findings, but "The Great Debaters" is also an opportunity to demonstrate the history of a time and of a people. In my opinion, this is a very good film to show to history classes of all colors, because too few people do realize the conditions of the past and the price African American people paid for a better education and more chances to interact and compete on an equal basis.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Argument in Defense of this Film, December 27, 2007
Denzel Washington's "The Great Debaters" has that classic feel-good attitude about it, the kind that can be both uplifting and inspiring when we feel that life is getting us down. I admit that sounds a little hokey. I also admit that the story is somewhat predictable, especially as it nears the end. But the strengths of this film far outweigh the weaknesses--this is a pleasant and enjoyable story, one in which overcoming adversity is not only the overall theme, but also the literal driving force of the plot. I use the word "plot" because I have no way of knowing how accurately it interprets real life; the year 1935 saw the debate team from Marshall, Texas' all black Wiley College compete with several major, mostly white universities. Leading Wiley's team was Melvin B. Tolson, an African American English professor who stirred up controversy not only because of his race, but also because of his radical political beliefs.
In the film, Denzel Washington portrays Tolson as a motivating but firm man of principle, believing that a debate can only be won through a strict regiment of reason and logic. The beginning of the semester sees the formation of a new debate team, and out of the forty-five students who try out, only four are chosen. One is Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), a young man so disillusioned by life that he drowns his sorrows in reckless behavior: he drinks; he womanizes; he gets into fights with dangerous people. He's also Tolson's mental and emotional equal--both are strong-willed and stubborn, and both are willing to match wits with each other. The second student is Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett), the first woman to ever be on Wiley's debate team. The feelings between her and Henry are strong, if a little stormy: while she does enjoy the occasional party, she doesn't appreciate the way he deals with his pain.
The third student is James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), who must have been brilliant since he was in college at age fourteen. He also has feelings for Samantha, but because she only sees him as a friend, he constantly feels rejected. It doesn't help that he's always assigned as the debate team's researcher; he'd like the chance to actually debate an opposing team. His drive to succeed academically was most likely brought on by his father (Forest Whitaker, and in case you're wondering, no, he's not Denzel Whitaker's real life father); as a professor, he believes that nothing is more important than an education. It's so important to him, in fact, that some may perceive him as unsympathetic and needlessly stern.
The fourth student is Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams), who's eager to please everyone, especially Professor Tolson. I wish more about this character had been explored, because being the teacher's pet is always indicative of some deep-seeded need for attention. As it was, this character is the least developed. One thing we do learn is that his father doesn't agree with communism, which is bad since rumors have been spreading about Tolson's political beliefs; dressed as a simple farmer, he secretly meets with other farmers--both white and black--and discuss how they should form into a union, which would theoretically mean equal pay for every worker. One such meeting is interrupted by a group of white vigilantes who, as you might expect, prefer the status quo to progression. Leading this group is Dozier (John Heard), Marshall's bigoted sheriff.
The major highlights of this film are the debate scenes, all of which are effective in their simplicity. They show how the Wiley team earned its reputation as undefeated champions, and the victories are so satisfying that it's easy to overlook the routine nature of the plot. Watching the students carrying off yet another trophy, I felt joyous and triumphant inside, and isn't that exactly the way I was supposed to feel? As a director, Washington has crafted a film that isn't at all unlike some of the better sports movies--it puts the characters through a series of trying circumstances only for them to arise as one and transcend. "The Great Debaters" definitely accomplishes that goal, and accomplishes it well.
This is a good thing because some heavy-handed material is not spared on the audience. Keep in mind that this takes place in 1935 in the Jim Crow south; the film's single most disturbing scene shows a white mob surrounding a lynched black man, his dead body hanging from a tree branch and burnt beyond all recognition. Tolson and his debate team see this as they drive late at night, and in the end, they barely escape with their lives.
The film culminates with the Wiley team debating Harvard University, an event so historic that it was broadcast all over the country via radio. I guess it doesn't matter that, in real life, Wiley never debated Harvard--for this story, Harvard is symbolic of that one major obstacle to be overcome. You're just going to have to see for yourselves if Wiley wins the debate; you might have some idea given the kind of film this is, but even if this is the case, I'd still recommend this movie to you. "The Great Debaters" is good-natured and inspirational, the kind of film we all want to see from time to time. In all honesty, it was an absolute pleasure to watch something so uplifting. Let's face it: movies about winning teams--of any sport--can make you feel like a winner, as well.
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