The Great Debaters: DVD Review (2008)

From Denzel Washington, a movie about finding the courage to raise your voice in the face of great hatred, opposition and fear.  

The film fictionalizes the true story of the all-black Wiley College debate team which, in 1935 Marshall, Texas, did what nobody had done before it.

In the segregated Jim Crow South, where lynching was common, they found power in words and their own voices by debating at mostly white schools. Their coach was Melvin B. Tolson (Washington), the well-known poet, professor and activist who many believed was a Communist.

Washington is very good here, but the young actors portraying Tolson’s gifted students (Nate Parker, Jermaine Williams, Jurnee Smollett and Denzel Whitaker) are remarkable, offering a necessary counterweight to the otherwise formulaic script.

Read the full, unedited review here.

Rated PG-13. Grade: B+

View the trailer here: