The Great Debaters
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brian Smiar, Damien Leake, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Gregory NicoteroBrand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
Cinematographer: Philippe Rousselot
Composer: James Newton Howard
Composer: Peter Golub
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-13
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Genius Products (TVN)
Movie Reviews of The Great Debaters
Movie Review: The origins of the civil rights movement
Summary: 5 Stars
The Great Debaters is a wonderfully acted, well produced film about the first college debate between a black team, Wiley College, and a white team. (In the movie, the white team is Harvard, but in fact it was USC.) The plot of the movie revolves around the struggles of the debating team to achieve recognition during an era in which civil rights were a mere glimmer on their progenitors' eyes. (Not surprisingly, several of those progenitors were members of the debating team.) The outcome is predictable, so in that sense, this is a "feel-good" film. But the purpose of the film wasn't just to make us root for the underdog. The Great Debaters was clearly intended as a vehicle to portray the origins of the civil rights movement.
The movie makes some departures from historical events, but these were not of a nature to detract from the story. Where the final debate took place is not particularly important. What is important is that the film accurately depicted the hurdles faced by the black community in the 1930s. This was an era in which "justice" was often administered at the end of a rope, and in which being black was a crime in and of itself. The horrifying scene in which James Farmer, Jr. (who eventually became one of the "Big Four" of the civil rights movement), witnesses a lynching encapsulated the purpose of this film, which was to explain the need for civil rights. The debates, themselves, while probably departing significantly from the originals, served to present the arguments used by later civil rights advocates, notably Martin Luther King, Jr.
Unlike many films based on "true stories" the Great Debaters tackled the larger social issues of the times. Because these issues--the rights of minorities, the rule of law, constitutional authority--are still pertinent, still subject to heated discussion, and still worthy of our undivided attention, the great debate continues.
Summary of The Great Debaters
Two-time Academy Award? winner Denzel Washington (American Gangster) directs and stars with Academy Award? winner Forest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland) in this important and deeply inspiring page from the not-so-distant past (Richard Roeper, At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper). Inspired by a true story, Washington shines as a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African American college students into an historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite. DVD Special Features:Deleted Scenes
The Great Debaters: An Historical Perspective. That's What My Baby Likes; Music Video.
My Soul Is A Witness; Music Video
Theatrical Trailer
Sneak Peeks: Grace is Gone, Cassandra's Dream, I'm Not There, Hunting Party
Inspired by real events, the fascinating The Great Debaters reveals one of the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement in its story of Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington in a captivating performance) and his champion 1935 debate club from the all-African-American Wiley College in Texas. Tolson, a Wiley professor, labor organizer, modernist poet, and much else, runs a rigorous debate program at the school, selecting four students as his team in '35, among them the future founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Washington, who directed The Great Debaters from a script by Robert Eisele (The Dale Earnhardt Story), anchors the story with the team's measurable progress, but the film is also about the state of race relations in America at the height of the Great Depression. With lynchings of black men and women a common form of entertainment and black subjugation for many rural whites, the idea of talented and highly intelligent African-American young people learning to think on their feet during debates would seem almost a hopeless endeavor. But that's not the way Tolson sees it, as his students serve themselves and the cause of racial equality in America with energetic arguments in favor of progressive government and non-violence as a viable social movement. There are some startling moments in this movie, particularly the sight of a man found lynched and burned to death, and an extraordinary moment in which we see black sharecroppers and white farmers engaged with Tolson in arguments about unionizing together. Forest Whitaker is outstanding as Farmer's emotionally-reserved father, also a Wiley professor. This is the kind of film where one hopes two great actors such as the elder Whitaker and Washington will have a scene together, and when it comes it's as powerful as one might hope. --Tom Keogh
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