The Great Debaters (2007)

Fantastic!

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely brilliant

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The Great Debaters chronicles a chapter in the life of a fascinating man, Professor Melvin B. Tolson, who created quite a name for himself by assembling a prodigious all-black debate team, while also creating a stir with his radical politics.The movie takes place in Marshall, Texas in 1935 at the all-black Wiley College. On the first day of class, Tolson (Denzel Washington oozing the charisma, intensity and barely reined rage he always taps into) announces the debate team tryouts at his house the same night. The tryouts draw 45 students, vying for four positions. He eventually staffs the debate team with an eclectic rag-tag group of debaters: Intelligent-but-brooding Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), who is a randy loose cannon, makes the team, along with returning member Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams). The team is rounded out by alternates Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett), an absolute stunner and the only female to try out, and James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), the 14-year-old son of the college president, who has the experience to do the massive research required for the debates. Tolson employs unrelenting, unconventional methods to train his team, which pay off in victory after victory in debates with other Black colleges. Unbeknownst to his students, Tolson writes to several white universities to try to secure an unprecedented debate with one of them; his ultimate dream is a long-shot debate with Harvard.No story works well without conflict and The Great Debaters brings it on in the second act. Personal relations become a problem when Samantha and Nate form a couple, and James – who has had a crush on Samantha from day one – can no longer control his anger over their relationship. Another problem arises when the local police learns of Tolson's secret dealings trying to help unionize the local sharecroppers and farmers, a mixed-race partnership. But Tolson and the four under his tutelage fight not only with the racism of the time but also with tensions within their own ranks, as they eventually get the coveted shot against Harvard.As is well-known, academic competitions are addictive nail-biters. When you add the racial tensions of a segregated South, you've got a powerful emotional dynamic. Enough fictional liberties were taken with the movie to make it fit neatly on the inspirational genre shelf, but it's grounded in enough reality to excuse Robert Eisle's we-shall-overcome contrivances. Denzel Washington's crisp direction and the sharp performances by everyone – giving us characters we can root for - help to leaven the inspirational emphasis of the screenplay while steadily building tension. Surprisingly, for a film about the power of speech, it's the quiet moments of rapture that say everything.The Great Debaters may be accused of being naked in its shameless desire to make audiences wince at every setback and cheer at every victory. The strength of the movie is that it gets away with it almost every time. By the time it's over, even cynics will be fighting the impulse to stand up and cheer.

It's a good film definitely but something that could have been much better. Racism is what this film is about I can say. But the debates are equally interesting. It's tough to debate on anything without having much knowledge about the topic. If we were to debate then we must have full knowledge of what we are talking about. The actors here have precisely done that, they seem to be in control of a good director and make us believe that they are fully aware of the topic of the debate.Denzel Washington is the director and also acts in the movie and I am sure this was the toughest thing to do. To act is much easy than directing, but to do both and still make it good is terrific. I am happy that Denzel almost pulled it off with neat direction.Yes, I have qualms from this movie. It's very nicely packaged but at the end leaves a void and leaves us with a wish of how much could this have been. I wish it was more about debates than about personal turmoil and conflict. There is a love story, a parent-child relationship and the relationship of teacher and students. Except for the love-story, the other things are fine. I wish still that this love-story that was between Samantha Booke (played by Jurnee Smollet) and Nate Parker (played by Henry Lowe) was not needed.It's a film based in 1930's and the production design, the art direction have worked well. They are pretty decent and seem to take us through that period of 1930's. The cinematography was just good, but I believe there was lot much scope in this film and considering that film was made in 2007, I suppose full potential of camera was not used. My biggest crib is editing though, there are few scenes that I believe were not needed and cut have been cut. The second biggest crib is in writing, I suppose that the material given was good, but not enough to make an interesting movie. So, I think that's the reason why uncalled from drama and relationships had to be added up in the screenplay.Surely, this is a good film, but some deep down thought and more focus on debating would have made it a great film. A 3/5 for a good film. For others, it's up to them to decide.

Before watching The Great Debaters, we thought it would be kind of boring – we both couldn't have been more wrong. Being based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson this movie made us laugh, cry, and eat a lot of popcorn. When our LA teacher told us that we would be watching some movie called The Great Debaters, both of us were wondering what in the world we had done to deserve this. The movie truly proved that a "smart movie" doesn't necessarily have to be boring, and in many situations, it isn't. The Great Debaters showed the story of Wiley College's debate team of four African American college students in Texas during 1935, and how they debated in one of the most controversial debates of all time. The main plot is brought to life by the incredible cast. Denzel Washington was perfectly casted by Natalie Ballesteros to play Melvin B. Tolson, the debate team coach and professor at Wiley College. Actors Jurnee Smollet, Nate Parker, and Denzel Whitaker truly embraced their roles as Samantha Booke, Henry Lowe, and James Farmer Jr., the students on the debate team. Their performance in this film was Golden Globe worthy.The characters in The Great Debaters were very dynamic. By showing the contrasting personalities in Henry Lowe (Parker) and James Farmer Jr. (Whitaker), Robert Eisele (screenwriter) showed how two completely different people can still work together for the better. Showing how a cynical, angry man and a fourteen year old optimist could grow to be so close really touched us both while watching this movie.Along with the incredible characters, the plot itself in this movie was incredible. The plot was made even more interesting with added subplots such as a love-triangle, and a father/son relationship. These slight problems made the movie much more suspenseful and intriguing to a viewer. The Great Debaters is a quality film that we both would recommend to all audiences who are looking for a heartfelt, suspenseful, interesting, funny, and sad film. This film teaches people about the racial discrimination that took place during the 1930s in America and also explains many crucial things about American history. The performances, cinematography, directing, producing, editing, and designs in this film were truly extraordinary. This drama was truly one of the best movies that both of us have seen.

I just can't recommend this film enough. We watched it with our 10 year old son in order that he can understand the evil of racism, the strength of human spirit in some people, the power of resilience and self-belief but also the need to focus and work hard to achieve great things.Denzil Washington is, in my opinion, one of the top 10 actors Hollywood has produced - but he is equally good as a director. Everything about this movie was pure perfection - from casting to acting to lighting.It motivated me to read up about Melvin B. Tolson (the educator, columnist, and politician whom this film was covering), and his truly impressive in his wisdom and determination. From what I read, I got the impression that this film remains quite true to reality, which of course makes it even more impressive.