The Great Debaters (2007)
Supposedly based upon true story, Hollywood again takes liberty with the truth.
A long and convoluted story of the Wiley College debate team. The time is the 1930's, when racism and segregation were running rampant across the nation. This is the story of an all-black college debate team coming face-to-face with the horrors of mob rule, lynchings, and racism -- with a little debating on the side.
A lot of the movie really doesn't need to be there which causes for long, drawn out, events. In fact, just in case you forgot what the particular event was before, the movie re-visits it for you and then picks-up somewhere else down the road. I can't for the life of me figure out why certain events were even in the movie in the first place. It's almost as if someone wants to tell three or four stories but wanted to save on movie production costs so they rolled them all up into one single movie.
All in all, this movie isn't up to par on the scale of the two main actors, Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker.
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The real Wiley College debate team actually beat USC who were the reigning national debate champions -- not
Harvard, as portrayed in the movie.
Title: The Great Debaters
Released: 2007
Genre: Drama
Rated: (strong thematic material, violence and disturbing images, language, brief sexuality)
Director: Denzel Washington
Producer: Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, et al.
Cast: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, et al.
Our Review: 1½ Movie Reels (5 being best)
The Blurb Meister™ says: "Borrrrrring!"
