The Great Debaters | 
 enlarge | Actors: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Damien Leake, Gregory Nicotero, Brian Smiar
Studio: Genius Products (TVN)
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $3.89
You Save: $26.06 (87%)
New (49) Used (47) from $3.89
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 357
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Ntsc, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 124
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 81070
UPC: 796019810708
EAN: 0796019810708
ASIN: B00125WAWS
Theatrical Release Date: December 25, 2007
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
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
Product Description
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 Underestimated its audience July 27, 2008
This was a beautifully filmed movie with a good message and great acting especially by those portraying the students. However, I have not been so disappointed in seeing a beautiful, meaningful movie lose credibility by underestimating its audience since watching Prairie Giant (The movie about the life of the founder of universal health care in Canada - Tommy Douglas.)
What I don't like to find out after watching such an emotionally gripping tale whose aim is to depict truth and fight injustice is that the filmmakers have been loose with the truth and have been unjust in their misappropriating credit to the wrong University.
Harvard never extended the Wiley Debate team an invitation to their University, instead it was the University of southern California. To me, finding this out after watching the movie spoilt the movie for me. To say a prestigious University extended a grace-filled invitation in order that a modern audience could see the mammoth achievement that the students from Wiley accomplished is an insult to the intelligence of the modern audience. If the filmmakers had wanted to show that debating U of SC was a fine achievement - they could have set the stage so that we would have understood the significance of that debate in that era and at the same time held true to history and gave the kudos the University that really made the step towards a more racially harmonious America.
The filmmakers should have cut all ties with reality and made this story a fictional morality tale - for then it truly would have been a masterpiece.
 Rocky of Debate Teams July 25, 2008
The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington, is the latest in the Rocky series. It is the Rocky of debating. Sound implausible? Well, actual sports do lend themselves better to the Rocky formula, but when the story is based on a true story, as this one is, it is able to pull it off alright.
The story is set in 1935 at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. Wiley is an African-American college and Denzel Washington is the headstrong debate coach. They rise to prominence in spite of the virulent racism of the deep South in the early 1900s. It's a good story, though it is hard to get the full flavor of the debates when you only get sound bites. Football and basketball lend themselves well to highlight reels, but you really need the full picture on debates.
In any event, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to most audiences. Probably not suitable for kids, unless they are up for understanding lynchings and racism.
 Remembering Racism July 22, 2008
The setting is 1930s Texas, with plentiful portrayals of the barbaric and murderous treatment doled out to blacks by whites of the day.
The story is ostensibly portrayed as factual. Wikipedia's portrayal of the film's subject matter indicate that much in the movie is not factual including the entire story that there was ever a Harvard debate.
Although the movie holds one's attention, and doesn't come across as overdone, the strategy of mixing near fantasy with some of the horrific subject matter is in my opinion; disturbing.
The story is about a debate team consisting of black students, that actually existed and who overcame overwhelming obstacles including racism. Through their victories they showed other Americans that our black citizens are as great as any other race. If it is true that this team never actually debated Harvard though, why rewrite history? Is it that the movie makers felt that the actual accomplishments depicted are not movie worthy?
In spite of all of the above, everyone can benefit from seeing the film because we all need to be reminded of past atrocities so that we will not shrink from those of the present. I just feel that the film-makers should have provided my inquisitive mind with more of the real story and less of the embellishment.
 Perfect Execution of a Brilliant Theme July 21, 2008
This is one of those movies that is truly educational, provides insight on people's lives from another time and is quite entertaining. Watching this movie, I could get a sense of what it must have been like in segregated America. Using a debate team as the central concept, is a wonderfully original idea. The scene with Forest Whitaker and his family after he runs over a pig, is especially poignant. This movie reminded me of 'Mississippi Burning' (another excellent movie). I hope this film brings attention to the art of debating which I think schools should encourage more, as an exercise in presenting structured arguments and building logical thinking capabilities. Denzel did a great job with this movie and in giving rather unknown African American actors a chance at the big screen which today seems to be monopolized by a few.
Flawed But Interesting July 14, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
THE GREAT DEBATERS is an interesting historical look at the first black debating team to ever compete at a white college. And although it is interesting as a film, it isn't very historically accurate.
The good is that, as a film viewer, you care about the main characters. Denzel Washington (Deja Vu) stars in -- and directs -- this ethnically challenging movie, and does so in his usually adequate way. Melvin B. Tolson (Washington) is the teacher of the Wiley College debate team in 1935 Texas. His team is comprised of three bright young black people: Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), an overly-clever man with a possible future ...if he can stay out of harm's way; Samantha Brooke (Jurnee Smollett, House, M.D.), the first female debater in Wiley College history; and James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), a chubby lad with a penchant for research.
Growing up in the South (that's South with a capital "S"), the team must not only fight to win debates against local colleges, but must also battle the prejudices of the times. They come into close contact with ignorance and racism on a daily basis. Even their teacher, Mr. Tolson, is threatened at various crossroads.
This is what stood out in the film ...and rightfully so. But there were some serious flaws in the film, too. The biggest was the debates themselves. Many of them were based on emotion and not facts and statistics. It would've also been nice to have had the names of the actual persons within the film and not some made-up ones (some were real, like Tolson, but others were not).
Some praise has to be made for Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) as Dr. James Farmer Sr. His role was understated and held much of the powerful, emotional punch toward the final third of the movie, especially when his son James Jr. discovers why his father reacts the way he does during an embarrassing prejudicial moment.
That Wiley's black debaters made it to Harvard and debated their team is now history. But I would've liked to have seen more of the actual history than this Hollywooded version. Still, it's an interesting movie that'll give many viewers an insight into something they probably knew nothing about.
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