Denzel Washington steps behind the camera to direct this film about the 1935 Wiley College debate team. The team overcame racial prejudice in the 30s, but those expecting historical accuracy will have some nitpicking.
In the 1930s, Professor Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) forms a debate team for Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. His team consists of Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams) with alternates being Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett) and James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker).
Farmer is the son of a prominent professor and reverend, James Farmer, Sr. (Forest Whitaker). Tolson’s team faces not only being from a college in a small Texas town, but also the racism that is prevalent in the time period. They also face some adversity because their leader, Professor Tolson, has some after work activities trying to unionize some farmers and runs afoul of the local sheriff (John Heard).
However, they rise above all odds to debate one of the more prominent colleges of the day and prove that you can’t judge a debater by the color of their skin.
Hollywood films are historically accurate. Negative. The film does employ the moniker “based on a true story.” There have been some liberties taken with the film, such as the Wiley debaters didn’t debate Harvard in the 1930s.
However, those expecting historical accuracy from movies might have had too many coaches teaching history by showing films (my brother had such a teacher, they joked that he’d never know if the light switch worked in his classroom since he always showed movies and never turned the lights on).
Movies are made to entertain and The Great Debaters does so admirably. The film has to have a great victory for our actors to achieve and defeating an Ivy League school serves the purpose, accurate or not. You do get caught up in the movie and really don’t care about if it might be true or not.
So many people were held down in the racist South that you can’t blame the filmmakers for producing this victory. The argument might be better made that it’s strange that the Wily team doesn’t get to argue the negative side of the coin very often, but who’s arguing?
I rather enjoyed the film and thought it extremely well acted. Denzel and Forest had their usual solid performances, but the real light shown from the group of talented young actors.
The plot is truly a bit worn and one that you’ll find in many sports films (the underdogs rising to the top), but you get caught up in it and it may only come to you in hindsight. It’s a very inspirational film and sure to inspire both African Americans as well as other races.
The Great Debaters is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features on disc one include 5 minutes of deleted scenes, the 23 minute “The Great Debaters: Historical Perspective,” two music videos (“What My Baby Likes” (3 minutes) and “My Soul is a Witness (4 minutes)), and the 2 minute theatrical trailer.
Disc two contains the 12 minute “The Great Debaters: A Heritage of Music,” the 10 minute “Scoring the Great Debaters (with composers James Newton Howard and Peter Golub),” the 21 minute “Learning to Act,” the 4 minute “Forest Whitaker on becoming James Farmer, Sr.,” the 9 minute “New Generation of Actors,” the 5 minute “The 1930s Wardrobe of Sharen Davis,” the 9 minute “The Production Design of David J. Bomba,” and two poems of Tolson’s (Dark Symphony and Lambda).
The Great Debaters may not be the most historically accurate film, but it does feature an uplifting storyline and fine performances. We go to the theater to be entertained and the Debaters delivers the goods. Those little historical nitpicks shouldn’t get in the way of your enjoyment a great movie.
The Great Debaters (2-Disc Special Collector's Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story