Among the many intellectual exercises connected to competitive debate is the ability to defend stances that, at first blush, might seem indefensible. I know; I debated in high school and remember many a contest assailing the evils of seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. Judging by The Great Debaters, however, you wouldn’t think that debate requires much cognitive elasticity. Based on an inspiring real-life saga, the picture stacks the deck by ensuring its collegiate heroes are always debating the side of what is good and just and fair.
So The Great Debaters gilds the lily. Set in the Jim Crow South of 1935, it follows the triumphs of the debate team of Wiley College, a historically black university in Marshall, Texas. It is a stirring tale of true-life courage and tenacity – as well as a grim reminder of a not-so-distant segregated past – but the filmmakers don’t fully trust their story or their audience.
Director Denzel Washington (his second such effort, after 2002’s Antwone Fisher) and screenwriter Robert Eisele drive home each dramatic turn with sledgehammer force. Invariably the Wiley debaters are assigned the affirmative on such matters as civil disobedience (they’re for it) and helping the poor (ditto). Even the climactic debate showdown is gussied up, with Wiley’s real-life opposing team from the University of Southern California now supplanted by Harvard University.
The revisionism doesn’t hobble the film’s emotional pull, but it does compromise it.. The Great Debaters is rousing and delivered with Hollywood polish, but its tried-and-true formula renders it more predictable – and, therefore, less resonant – than one would like. It is equal parts Sports Underdog flick (with Wiley’s impromptu debaters the fill-in athletes) and Inspirational Teacher tale.
Our central hero is Wiley educator Melvin Tolson (Washington), who would later achieve great acclaim for his poetry. As coach of the debate team, Mr. Tolson is tough, demanding and roguishly charming – in other words, he is Denzel Washington. “Debate is blood-sport,” he tells his team. “It’s combat, but your weapons are words.” Tolson’s debate warriors consist of Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), a troubled and rebellious Lothario; good girl Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett); and 14-year-old James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), a whiz kid whose father (the always magnificent Forest Whitaker) is Wiley’s imposing theologian.
Despite rote conflicts, love triangles and the like, there is little doubt that this exceptional group of students will do Mr. Tolson proud. The Great Debaters grabs each Moment of Emotional Payoff by the lapels and shakes them around until coins litter the floor. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The filmmaking is self-assured, the acting solid and the characters likeable. But a viewer can choke on all that spoon feeding.
Cutting to the Chase with Phil Bacharach 