The Great Debaters (DVDrip - 2007)

A fictionalized account of a true story, "The Great Debaters" chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson, a brilliant but volatile debate team coach who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small college into a historically elite debate team. A controversial figure, Professor Tolson challenged the social mores of the time and was under constant fire for his unconventional and ferocious teaching methods as well as his radical political views. The film is directed and starred by Denzel Washington as the ambitious educator, and 2007 Oscar winner, Forest Whitaker, as the college president and a resentful father of one of the students.


Denzel Washington (2007's "American Gangster") and Forest Whitaker (2002's "Panic Room") headline the period drama "The Great Debaters," but, in what has to be one of the strangest casting coincidences in cinema history, a teen actor with both of their names—Denzel Whitaker (2001's "Training Day")—steals the film from them. The younger Whitaker, no relation to Forest, delivers an irresistible, star-quality performance as 14-year-old James Farmer Jr., the youngest student at Marshall, Texas' Wiley College, circa 1935. He, along with classmates Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett) and Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), are three of the elite four who are chosen to represent the school's extracurricular debate team. Coached by the earnest Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), their winning sweep at neighboring schools eventually leads them to break racial barriers of the era, culminating in their match against Harvard University. ~Dustin Putman

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