The Bottom Line
Professor Melvin B. Tolson, Denzel Washington, is head of the debate team at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas in 1935. Wiley College is a small, all African-American school where the debate team succeeded in beating the national champions, and followed the win with 10 undefeated years of competition. The film follows Tolson and his team of 4 students as they research, compete, and journey through a difficult time in history.
- An honest look at the 1930s Jim Crow South
- Based on an inspiring true story
- Believable characters with solid acting
- Invokes emotional reactions in viewers: fear, shame, disgust, pride, happiness
- Balance of award winning and talented new actors
- Large focus on race, and not enough on the actual debating
- Multiple sub-plots distract from the main point of the film
- The story line feels like other films that have been done in the past
Description
Features Academy Award winners Denzel Washington (Professor Melvin B. Tolson) and Forest Whitaker (James Farmer Sr.)
Introduces young talent with Jurnee Smollett (Samantha Booke), Nate Parker (Henry Lowe), & Denzel Whitaker (James Farmer Jr.)
"School's the only place you can read all day, except prison" -- Henry Lowe
"We do what we have to do, so that we can do what we want to do" -- James Farmer Jr.
"Keep the body, kill the mind" -- Melvin B. Tolson
"Go walkin' down the road and disappear" -- Henry Lowe
"You give Boston my regards" -- James Farmer Sr.
"Whatever your instincts tell you, you listen" -- Melvin B. Tolson
Guide Review - The Great Debaters
I entered the theater to view The Great Debaters with no expectation for the film. I had minimal knowledge of the plot, basically a debate team from a small, Southern, all African-American school in the 30s beats Harvard -- but I had purposefully not researched the true story or read other reviews, wanting to see the film with an open mind. Now, after seeing the movie, I can see why the film has received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture.
The film, while focusing heavily on race relations in the Jim Crow South, and not as much on debating as one would think, did so in a way that I was able to relate to both sides of the student's lives -- academic and personal. Scenes in the film that were difficult to watch, put me in the same emotional state as the characters -- feeling the same fear and shame. The film does not shy away from an honest look at the events that happened in the South in the 1930s. While these scenes take the focus off of the debating at times, they also help in the understanding of the characters and the feelings that go into their debate arguments. Simply concentrating on the debates -- competitors, arguments, victories or defeats -- may have been a more factual look at the true events, but the film would have lacked a soul. Having the opportunity to see the love and loss, fear and shame, recklessness and determination, brought the characters to life, and in turn gave the film a spirit that transcended time and allowed me to feel like a part of it all.
