FILM... through our EYES!!!

ANALYSIS OF THE MOVIE “THE GREAT DEBATERS”
A film by Denzel Washington
Cast: Denzel Washington
Forest Whitaker
Nate Parker
Denzel Whitaker
Jurnee Smollett
Kimberly Elise

Produced in 2007 by Oprah Winfrey

PLOT
The movie is based on a true story and it follows the life Melvin B. Tolson (Washington) who happens to be a professor at Wiley College. He started a debate team that will show that black students can also be considered as good as the white students in Southern America. During this period, the laws of the land posed the black people as inferior to the white people.

The movie starts with Mr. Tolson gathering the debate team and he uses unconventional methods to train his team. Soon his dream team consisting of two guys and a girl are currently wining debates against other Black colleges throughout the country. Soon he begins to write to some white universities (Harvard included) to try to secure a debate with one of them. He succeeds and his team continues to go undefeated.

A twist in the plot is that, at nights, Tolson spends his time leading a revolution of farmers who are against segregation. He is even arrested at first but is bailed out by James Farmer Sr. (Whitaker). Soon, his team secures a debate with Harvard University but he couldn't go with them due to the conditions of his bail. They go to Boston and win the debate against the university.

The movie was based on the true story of Professor Tolson who in 1935 led the Wiley Debate Team to the national championship to defeat the University of Southern California before an audience of a thousand and a hundred people. Although, some parts of the story were changed, the movie still celebrates change and a struggle for freedom and equality.

If there is anything I love about the movie, it is the way the literary and historical references in the speeches of Tolsons' debate team show astounding erudition and the way their voices are very audible.

THEME
I think the major theme in this movie is that of "Racial Equality" and also The Struggle for the Emancipation of the Black Man". We see Mr. Tolson going to major lengths to see that his team comes out victorious. His actions are in line with the famous Martin Luther King Jnr. speech which says that "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Mr. Tolson made sure that he broke all form of racial stereotypes through his debate team and with his work with the farmers association. The paraphrasing of the famous saying of Augustine of Hippo “An unjust law is no law at all" buttresses the point.

SETTING
The movie is set in 20th Century America in 1930s Texas where racism was at its peak. It is set long before the Civil Rights Movement in the segregated south. The movie does a good job in highlighting the problem of racism. The scenery was perfect and the costumes were on point. There was a time when the professor and his team were on their way to a debate meet and they saw a black man being lynched. It was a horrible experience for them. I think that the setting for the movie was amazing.

SYMBOLISM
The debate team symbolizes the plight of every African American who grew up during this period. There are also symbols of hatred for blacks like when James Farmer Sr. was humiliated by a white man in front of his family or when Mr. Tolson and his team came across a man who was lynched by an angry mob of white men.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The movie has an outstanding cinematography and so many shots were used in the movie. There were lot of close-up shots and medium shots especially during the debate sessions. There were also tracking shots. They also made use of the extreme long shot when Mr. Tolson walked into the hall at Harvard and was watching his team debate against the University team.