Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
12/30/07
It's
easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because our society hasn't
overcome any of its' problems or injustices since, say, August, that “Nothing
Ever Changes”. But things do change: look at the slow but steady
progress we've made on race relations over the last century. I can
remember a time (when I was but a wee lad) when there were basically no
African Americans in leadership roles in the Government or Business, and
you could count the grand total of black movie stars, Oscar winners, baseball
managers and head coaches on just one hand. Rewind another 45 years,
to the 1930's setting of The Great Debaters, and you'd find a South
filled with relentless segregation, Jim Crow laws, and regular lynchings.
Denzel Washington (who also directed) and Forest Whitaker star in this
solid, inspirational drama about how hard it was to live in those times,
and the amazing ways people like Melvin Tolson broke down barriers just
by getting black and white students on the same stage to prove just how
equal they were.
At
Wiley College, Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington) is assembling his Debate
Team for another season. It will consist of returning Hamilton Burgess
(Jermaine Williams) and three new debaters: the smart but self-destructive
Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), 14 year-old scholar James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel
Whitaker), and its' first woman ever, Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett).
They struggle both with the challenge of a competitive schedule and the
racial injustices of the time. Farmer is ashamed of the way his father
(Forest Whitaker) endures indignities for his family's sake, while Tolson
is secretly working to organize local farmers into a union, a fact that
leads the corrupt local Sheriff (John Heard) to trump up charges and have
him arrested. But the team rolls on, posting win after win until
Tolson starts trying to drum up interest among white schools in debating
his kids. All this finally leads to Harvard, where the students must
put aside internal strife and rely on each other for the biggest match
of their lives.
It's
important to take note of the word “Inspired” in The Great Debaters'
“Inspired by a True Story” tagline: some facts about Wiley's historic
achievements remain in dispute, while others have been freely adjusted
for dramatic purposes. While the students, particularly Farmer, would
make their mark on the civil rights movement even after their college career
ended, their lives have been essentially fictionalized to generate a love/puppy
love triangle between Lowe, Farmer and Booke. But, reality aside,
the characters and their relationships are resonant, and the cast gells
into an effective unit. And the film does an excellent job dramatizing
the horrors of the Jim Crow era, down to a ghastly lynching the team comes
upon while driving to a match.
Tolson
is a role tailor-made for Washington's strengths: he's a hard man,
but also full of life, and he doesn't settle for anything. His almost
infinite reserves of confidence play perfectly both in the classroom and
as a coach, and the movie barely scratches the surface of a man who in
his life was also a famous poet, a football coach, 4-term Mayor and head
of a local theater company. Whitaker is also in his element in a
role that calls both on his fatherly warmth and the reserves of righteous
anger he can call to the fore with blinding speed. The elder Farmer
must make day-to-day sacrifices, including his dignity at times, to live
in this world, but he remains a great man at heart. The debaters
are all well played, led by Parker, who must balance Lowe's obvious intellect
with all the stupid things he does. Without being particularly preachy,
the film explores the choice minority kids of all eras must make whether
to use the unfair disadvantages at which they find themselves as an excuse
to give up or to keep pushing forward no matter the obstacles. Smollett
does a nice job of allowing Samantha's confidence to slowly build until
it comes bursting out at the podium or in one really well-timed reaction
to Henry's foolishness. And Denzel Whitaker (no relation to anybody
you might be thinking about...) nicely captures the challenges of being
too young both to fit into his college world and to understand the compromises
necessary to survive in an unjust time. Heard is one of the best
at oozing casual corruption, and his Sheriff Dozier wears it like a cheap
suit.
Speaking
of suits, I just loved the way the movie dressed its' characters.
When Tolson first enters his classroom in a well-worn, baggy grey jacket,
the costume speaks volumes about who he is and where he's been. Across
the board, the sense of time and place is very strong. Washington
the Director keeps his cast nicely in their era and from giving in to some
of the more conventional aspects of the screenplay (although some of the
specifics of the debate topics and facts quoted therein still ring false).
The
Great Debaters breaks no new ground: it's a fairly conventional
star vehicle/inspirational sports movie. But it does a good job of
working its' formula, delivers a great vehicle for that star, and serves
to remind us of the too-easily forgotten sins of our recent past.
Its' inspiration is not so much to go out there and Win the Big Match,
but to simply do your part to keep the long, slow march to equality moving,
one foot in front of the other. |
