The Great Debaters

I remember when I was in high school I wanted to be on the debate team. I had never seen an actual organized debate, but I did have ring side seats to watch two master debaters any night of the week, my mother and father. My mother is the pro-debater. She has this way of using words like silver bullets and piercing your heart as if you were the werewolf that terrorized a village. I'd watch the sweat form above my father's brows, a sure sign of possible defeat. But I learned at a very young age, the power in words and how, if carefully chosen, could persuade the most stubborn contender to fold under the pressure of an extensive vernacular.

Which brings me to the blockbuster hit, The Great Debaters. When I saw the movie trailer on TV, I was sure I knew the ending before I even saw how it all began. Our cinematic gods are pushing the story of overcoming struggles. "Without struggle, there is no progress." My main man Frederick Douglas said that. And now Paramount, Dreamworks, FOX, and all the other big wheels have jumped on the bandwagon and are OK'ing scripts where an obstacle is the foundation and hope is the chisel.

In the movie, three very determined students (it initially started with 4), James Farmer, Jr., Henry Lowe (fine, too), and Samantha Booke make up the Wiley College debate team, a small negro college in Texas. There coach and also a literature professor at the college, is none other than Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington). Yes, Denzel has traded his tailored suits and "Blue Magic" for a polyester knit jacket & pant, and traded his American Gangster persona for an educated and fiery word-conneisseur. He leads the debate team through the Jim Crow south. While watching the movie, the 1930s racial undertones are quite obvious as "Whites Only" signs plague the backgrounds and scenes of black inferiority and white supremacy made me want to rise up and protest. I forgot for a moment that is was circa 2007. But my father was born in 1937, so I'm only one generation away from the "Coloreds Only" section.

The team is a hit! They tear up colleges in the south with their ruthless debates and puts the old affirmation, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, to shame! I laughed, cried and cheered throughout the movie. A Harpo production, and directed by the leading man Denzel Washington, this is definitely an Oscar contender! Go and see for yourself!