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Street Date: May 13
Official Synopsis:
Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington (American Gangster) directs and stars with Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) in this "important and deeply inspiring page from the not-so-distant past" (Richard Roeper, At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper). Inspired by a true story, Washington shines as a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African American college students into an historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite. Featuring a superb cast of rising young actors, "The Great Debaters is marvelous entertainment that you should not miss" (Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer).
Our Take:
I’m pretty sure I never once saw any ads for The Great Debaters on TV. Sure, I had watched the trailer for it at some point online but I had quickly forgotten about thereafter, as it wasn’t something that demanded my attention. And that’s just the problem because this is a great film and, while it was obviously hard to market, the studios should have done something more to get this movie to the masses.
Denzel Washington takes his second shot at directing here and again proves himself to be more than competent at being both behind and in front of the camera. Starring alongside Washington is another big name star and Academy Award winner, Forest Whitaker. Obviously these two are giants whom we expect great things out of. They both deliver just fine, which is at this point unsurprising, but the real surprise comes in the form of Nate Parker (the lead debater on Denzel’s team). This kid is amazing and he easily outshines both Washington and Whitaker. Checking up on his credits, I haven’t seen him around before; although I did notice that he starred in Pride, which was another overlooked African-American true story film.
I also have to talk about the DVD packaging on The Great Debaters: 2-Disc Special Edition. Creating a great looking product with great content seems to be a lost art form nowadays in the world of DVD production (except, of course, with the Criterion Collection). This set, however, seems to have been made years ago (in a time when production companies wanted consumers to walk away flabbergasted with their product). The content is not only more than you could ask for but the box, the design, and even the flip-book insert containing snippets of history are all beyond top-notch.
Special features include:
* Deleted Scenes (5 minutes) – Three scenes.
* The Great Debaters: An Historical Perspective (23 minutes).
* “That’s What Baby Likes,” Music Video (3 minutes).
* “My Soul Is A Witness,” Music Video (4 minutes).
* The Great Debaters: A Heritage of Music (12 minutes).
* Scoring The Great Debaters With James Newton Howard & Peter Golub (11 minutes).
* Learning The Art: Our Young Actors Go To Debate Camp (22 minutes).
* Forest Whitaker On Becoming James Farmer, Sr. (4 minutes).
* A New Generation Of Actors (10 minutes).
* The 1930’s Wardrobe Of Sharen Davis (5 minutes).
* The Production Design Of David J. Bomba (9 minutes).
* The Poetry Of Melvin B. Tolson – Two poems reprinted on the screen for your reading pleasure.
It looks like 2007 was a great year for films about debate (the other great film being the completely overlooked Rocket Science). Maybe it’s just my interest in the field in general but, more than likely, The Great Debaters is just a spectacular film.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Overall Picture:
Movie: A
DVD: A+
- Landen Chase Pelish
Staff Writer
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