by Karyn L. Beach

When you have a film produced by Oprah and directed by and starring Denzel Washington and featuring performances by Forest Whitaker and Kimberly Elise, the expectations are inevitably high. In The Great Debaters those expectations have been met and possibly even exceeded.

The Great Debaters is a fictionalized version on the true story of the Wiley College debate team of 1935, Washington stars as Melvin Tolson, a professor and coach of the debate team. As the film begins, he’s holding try-outs for the year’s team. Forty-five students apply and only four are accepted. There is Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), handsome and smooth, but equally eloquent and well-read. The affable Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams). The 14-year old son of a preacher and Wiley College professor (Forest Whitaker), James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker) and Samantha Brooke (Jurnee Smollett), who made the cut as the fourth member and the first female in the teams history.

Together the team manages an impressive run as an undefeated team – beating soundly the other African-American colleges they faced. In their first debate with a white team, Oklahoma City University, they won as well, garnering nationwide attention. However, Tolson’s efforts to united black and white sharecroppers and farmers in an attempt to get them to unionize, threatened to derail their progress.

When they receive the invitation to debate Harvard, they are poised to rise to the occasion.

The Great Debaters gives a sometimes sobering and chilling look at what it was like for African-Americans in the Jim Crow South. Washington doesn’t flinch when it comes to showing the violence and intimidation that was commonplace in that era.

As the director, he realizes that this show rightfully belongs to the debaters themselves and tells most of the story through the impressionable eyes of the young James Farmer Jr. We follow him as he begins to notice the compromises that even educated and successful Blacks had to make just to be able to survive.

In one scene, James Walker Sr., accidentally hits a pig with his car. The man that owns the farm wants him to immediately hand over $25 to cover the cost of the film. It’s obvious that the pig isn’t worth that much but he demands it anyway. In a humiliating but necessary move, the elder Walker signs over his $17 paycheck to cover the cost.

While fictionalized, the actual debate was between Wiley and the University of Southern California (not Harvard), the film does an excellent job of capturing what life was like in the Jim Crow era South. And I can say that because I saw it with my dad who grew up in that era and it resonated with him. So, if it’s good enough for Daddy, it’s good enough for me!

While Denzel Washington is always mesmerizing to watch (and he is here too), this is about the debaters and the young cast did a wonderful job. Parker captured the suave yet conflicted Henry Lowe who often let his passions get the best of him, in spite of himself. Jurnee Smollett has come a long way since her childhood recurring role on Full House (she also co-starred in Eve’s Bayou). She’s all grown-up and beautiful. As the ambitious Samantha, she briefly succumbs to Lowe’s charms but also manages to recover. When she slaps him in one scene, we felt it in the audience!

But young Denzel Whitaker steals the show. With Denzel Washington’s first name and Forest Whitaker’s surname (but no relation), he has a name with a lot to live up to. As the impressionable James Farmer Jr., we see the reality of the Jim Crow South and the responsibility of the debate team; force him from innocence into maturity.

Effectively capturing the flavor of the era while providing a positive message about overcoming astronomical odds with intelligence and dignity, The Great Debaters should not be missed.