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Plot:
A controversial figure, challenging the social mores of the time, Professor Melvin Tolson (Washington) used unconventional and ferocious teaching methods to shape a debate team at Wiley College, a sma...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 18, 2008
I thought this film, based on a true story, about a black debate team back in 1935 was really good...Denzel is always good, Forest Whitaker too. It's amazing to think blacks went through such abuse and horrible things! Thank God things are better now!
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MCT:August 6, 2008
A wonderful movie that should be mandatory for all school-kids to see. Directed by Denzel and produced by Oprah, this was amazing. Forest Whitaker was awesome as always.
Watching that 14 yo (Whose name is Denzel Whitaker...strange coincidence) debate at Harvard was very moving. I also liked seeing the photos of the "real" characters at the end credits.
Great movie! Highly recommended! -
MCT:July 27, 2008
its--real-uplifting-movie-opens-u-up-so-u-see-how-hard-it-was-for-african-americans-even-after-slavery-was-over!!!
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MCT:July 26, 2008Another underdog victory flick set in in the early 1900's with racism issues thrown in, i read this is based on some true story but either way it is passable.
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MCT:July 25, 2008as what i have known, this movie is based on a true-to-life story of a professor and his students in Wiley College... for me, it is quite a documentary movie of how the black fight their race so that they, too, can be heard and will be given the freedom to study in state colleges...
what i like most is their debate with the great debaters of harvard university, which at the end lead them to the victory as the great debaters of their time...
i really like the story... -
MCT:July 16, 2008
This was a very powerful and inspiring movie. It captured some very serious topics. It is a great movie I think everyone should see and could learn a thing or two from.
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MCT:July 16, 2008
Dengan latar belakang gua yang sempat tercemplung dalam riuh-rendahnya kehidupan para debaters semasa SMA, film ini memiliki daya tarik tersendiri. Selain faktor bahwa gua seringkali dicap sebagai ?si tukang debat?, yeah .. my old habit.
Film ini seringkali direkomendasikan ke gua untuk ditonton, yang kata orang ke gua ?wah, film-nya lu banget lah yok?. Cynical or flattering? What the hell. Tapi membutuhkan waktu berbulan-bulan sebelum akhirnya gua berhasil nonton film ini di DVD (ˇel DVD pirateria hombre!), karena di Kota Kembang film ini susah banget dicari.
Film ini menceritakan tentang sebuah tim debat dari negro college kecil di kawasan Texas bernama Wiley College yang berusaha untuk bisa menjadi juara debat se-Amerika. Dengan setting tahun 1930an, kondisi yang mereka alami dapat kita bayangkan. Negro pada saat itu masih merupakan warga negara kelas dua di Amerika Serikat, mereka tidak bisa bersekolah di sekolah negeri, dan tidak bisa berbaur dengan kulit putih seperti sekarang. Sederhananya, masyarakat Negro masih mendapatkan diskriminasi di hampir semua lini kehidupan. Kondisi ini ditambah dengan status Wiley College yang ?kecil?, yang apabila dibandingkan dengan Indonesia, dapat disamakan dengan Universitas yang berstatus ?terdaftar? atau bahkan ?izin akreditasi BAN-PT?. Dengan pelatih yang digambarkan begitu keras, radikal, sekaligus cerdas yaitu Mr. Tolson, tim debat Wiley College sedikit demi sedikit berhasil membuat reputasinya sebagai tim debat yang disegani di negara bagian Texas. Berbagai kampus satu per satu dikalahkan, mulai dari universitas yang setingkat Wiley, hingga universitas khusus kulit hitam terbaik di negara bagian Texas. Tentunya perjuangan mereka untuk bisa mendapatkan gelar tim debat terbaik se-Amerika tidaklah mudah, banyak halangan, baik itu di internal tim maupun karena kondisi politik pada saat itu. Dan mereka berhasil untuk menjadikan tim debat Wiley College sebagai tim debat yang disegani di Amerika.
Jika melihat plot utama cerita, tidak ada yang terlalu istimewa. Nampaknya Hollywood tidak bosan-bosan untuk membuat film dengan genre seperti ini, yaitu sebuah kelompok yang tidak pernah menang, yang kemudian dibina oleh seorang pelatih bertangan dingin, yang akhirnya memperoleh kedigdayaan. Jika pernah menonton Coach Carter yang dibintangi oleh Samuel L. Jackson, maka Great Debaters tidaklah jauh berbeda.
Yang membuat menarik bukanlah plotnya, melainkan dialog-dialog yang dibangun antara tokoh dalam film ini. Khususnya ketika tim debat dari Wiley College sedang dilatih oleh Mr. Tolson. Gua bisa menangkap hype yang ada dalam film ini ketika mereka sedang berargumen satu sama lain mengenai topik yang akan dipertandingkan dalam debat, karena tentunya sedikit flashback ke jaman SMA. Selain itu dalam film inilah gw mendapatkan quotation terbanyak dari berbagai tokoh-tokoh di dunia, yang digunakan secara cerdas untuk membangun argumen tim dan menjatuhkan argumen lawan. Berbagai macam gaya persuasi yang ditampilkan oleh masing-masing pendebat juga memiliki daya tarik tersendiri.
Sebenarnya, gua lebih mengharapkan apabila film ini lebih menggali bagaimana proses yang terjadi dalam sebuah tim debat ketika mereka melakukan riset, membuat argumen, dan berlatih berbicara di depan orang banyak. Tentunya akan lebih menarik apabila kondisi politik Amerika yang diskriminatif pada saat itu lebih diperlihatkan sehingga dapat menampilkan the most vulnerable side dari tim debat Wiley College. Meskipun tentunya hal tersebut akan memakan waktu lebih dari dua jam, dan itu bukan merupakan hal yang baik untuk bisnis. Hehehehe.
Meskipun sangat-sangat Hollywood, film ini tetap memiliki kualitas tersendiri melalui dialog yang dibangunnya. Gua sangat mengharapkan suatu saat Indonesia bisa membuat film seperti ini. Oh well, karena sudah banyak ?pejuang-pejuang Indonesia? yang bahkan mengharumkan nama bangsa di kancah internasional. -
MCT:July 14, 2008
The young actors brought together to tell this story are very talented and while interviews focused on the great find Whitaker was, I think he is equally matched by Parker. As the two key characters that propel the story, they provide very different perspectives: Whitaker?s character is a boy in an adult?s world forced to come to terms with the realities of his environment, while Parker?s character is somewhat older and all too aware of the injustices faced because of the colour of their skin...
For a full DVD review, visit: http://www.popjournalism.ca/magazine/2008/05/13/new-on-dvd-the-great-debaters/ -
MCT:July 14, 2008
This was a very good film. I love Denzel he is a very good actor. The cast was amazing and worked so well with each other. Few debates had me in tears. We have come a long way since that time.
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MCT:July 13, 2008
A reassuring, heartfelt, and inspirational account of triumph in the face of opposition.
Everything is great about this film except that it falls victim to a cliched theme that explains why so many people forgot about this little gem of a film. Thankfully, the plot, subject matter, and honest direction by Washington lift it above what it was doomed to become.
Each of the performances, especially the young Denzel Whitaker, is impressive, and even though I am not a history buff, their rousing debates made me consider real issues. -
MCT:July 13, 2008
The inspirational story of a small Texas college debate team being the first African Americans to win against Harvard in the 1930's.
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MCT:July 11, 2008
Profoundly inspiring and deeply moving. the film deals with racism through powerful speeches and imagery. It spurs you on and compels you to do the right thing.
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MCT:July 9, 2008
this was a real but sad movie too, but it had great actors and stars int he move I would look at it again
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MCT:July 8, 2008
this movie was great. it showed facts about america in the early twentith century. and how they over came most of there obsticals. Also the history of african-americans aka blacks.
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MCT:July 8, 2008
this is like one of those movies i wanted to see but wasn't really in the mood for it. Good movie. I really enjoyed it.
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MCT:July 7, 2008
Denzel Washington plays an unlikable (flawed) advocate for socialist unionization, free speech and the black civil rights movement who considers words the instruments of coercion, and tries to elevate himself to the status of the slavish institutionalists of his day through emulation rather than passive resistance (Ghandi). He encourages his black students to think, yet too often freedom of speech is the consolation prize to freedom of thought.
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Actually I had to wait until it came to ON DEMAND.... cause my life is too busy to be stoppiong at the movies... but DENZEL make every part he play is own personal experience and that is what makes the story so good.....
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MCT:July 4, 2008
I didn't really see anything special in this flick. You knew how it was going to go down from the beginning. The acting was good but nothing special.
Whitaker was excellent though.
I was surprised that the debating part of the movie was somewhat a B story in the whole thing. -
MCT:July 1, 2008
Powerful, gripping, and compelling. This story was magnificant, and I strongly recommend this movie to anyone, because you WILL enjoy it.
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MCT:June 29, 2008Bland version of the sports movie formula that tries to tell us about the defeat of stereotyped bigotry but mostly manages to demonize Southerners and modern-day conservatives (anachronism: Check). The goal is to show that a rich intellectual life was and should be at the heart of a liberated black community, but while the nice clothes and the ubiquitous quotes from high-literature help get us there the debating itself is nothing but soundbited, emotionalistic rhetoric. The acting, sets, and cinematography are decent to very good, but where this movie has a chance to make a meaningful, nuanced social statement it comes across as manipulative and hysterical.
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MCT:June 28, 2008
Washington, who also directs, plays Melvin Tolson, a hard-nosed instructor who, in 1935, coaches his co-ed team through racially motivated obstacles while simultaneously protecting a secret that threatens to derail his team's historic run. A self-righteous leader, Tolson fills his vessels with the knowledge that a proper education is their lone ticket to a balanced life. Young Denzel Whitaker, who, is related to Forest Whitaker stands out from Tolson's trio. He plays James Farmer Jr., the sympathetic son of the school's president and the third leg in a disproportioned love triangle that includes fellow debaters Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett) and Henry Lowe (Nate Parker). During the film's finest moments, the oft-broken-hearted teenager discovers the strength to persevere, learning the true power behind the right words spoken at the right time. His inspiring delivery swells from within, and that's a fact that can?t be debated. Washington nails a stately tone from the opening moments; a collegiate atmosphere where intelligent characters, not caricatures, have gathered to learn and fight for their right to grow has citizens and students. It?s an emboldening thematic rush that Washington nurtures to splendid results.
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MCT:June 28, 2008
A nice view in the world of African-Americans in 30's. Inspiring, powerful, with great performances from Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker. I'm not sure about Washington's direction though...
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Comments
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pavacri23posted 104 days ago -
This movie was snubbed at members of the Academy. And it didn't get not one single Oscar nomination! Ain't that a bitch!!! I know Denzel Washington was fuckin pissed when this movie not to mention American Gangster were kicked to the curb by members of the Academy. This movie SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED for Best Picture,Best Director(Washington),
Best Supporting Actor(Forest Whitaker),Best Supporting Actress(Jornee Smollett).
And Hollywood continues to snubbed GOOD BLACK MOVIES!!!
And this one had a positive message!!! About the importance of character and the importance of a good education!!!posted 178 days ago -
This is a GREAT film! Everyone, especially young african americans, should see this. Denzel did a great job on his directing debut. Jurnee Smollett was absolutely breath-taking in her powerful role.
posted 256 days ago -
This picture has OSCAR written all over it!!! Reasons:
Two of the greatest African-American actors of our time together for the first time in one picture.....Academy Award Winners DENZEL WASHINGTON and FOREST WHITAKER.
A powerful script with strong production values(produced by Oprah Winfrey under her production company Harpo Films)
in one of the BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR!!! Not to be missed!posted 257 days ago -
Denzel is DA BOMB!! I've got goosebumps just from the trailer. Can't wait to see this !!!!
posted 277 days ago
