The Great Debaters Review by B Movie Ben (4 Stars) | MatchFlick
Left Header Right Header
Header 3a   Header Right End A Header Right End B Space
Header Left 3b
Movie Reviews Columns Now on DVD Now Playing News
FREE Membership Member Login About MatchFlick  FAQ's MatchFlick Friday
Steal of the Day
Bad News Bears DVD
$9.99
$6.25
The Steal of the Day is offered by MatchFlick's DVD partner, FamilyVideo.com.


 

Member Login  [help]
 
 
 
 
 
Membership
 Join for FREE
 FAQs
 About MatchFlick
 Privacy Policy
Popular Movies  [more]
 Fight Club
 Pulp Fiction
 Eternal Sunshine
Popular People  [more]
 Johnny Depp
 Tom Hanks
 Natalie Portman
Member Trends
 Horror Club
 Reviewer Stats
Movie News
 Current News
 News Archives
Message Board
 Go To The Forum
Columns   [more]
 Movies Of South...
 Rendered Useless...
 The Horror, The ...
 Reflections On A...
 COLUMNS ARCHIVES
Contests
 GUESS THAT SCENE
Syndication
 RSS FEEDS
  
MatchFlick Member Reviews
The Great Debaters
4 reviews

review this movie

read all reviews

Movie Details

All Movie Info

Starring:
Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Jurnee Smollett, Gina Ravera, Jermaine Williams, Nate Parker, Russell Woron-Simons, Roger Dillingham Jr., J.D. Evermore, Tim Parati, Damien Leake, Chuck Vail, Ritchie Montgomery, Eric Kelly McFarland, Steve Flynn, Robert X. Golphin, Alan Resnic, Sean Paul Cormier, Michael Kelly, George Wilson, Bonnie Johnson, Christopher Tranchina, Heath Stewart, Brian D. Evans, James Granville, Breon Pugh, Terry Milam, Robert Malitsky, Kelvin Payton, Emily Griffin, Giovanni Pantaleo, Joel B. Hayden, Robert Masiello, Michael Beasley, Devyn A. Tyler, Denzel Whitaker, Misty Lockheart, Marcus Lyle Brown, Voltaire Rico Sterling, Todd Poudrier, Jackson Walker, Cory Patt, Josh McBride, Charissa Allen, Antravian D. Carter, Devyn A. Tyler, Stephen Rider, Brad Watkins, Samuel Elliott Whisnant, Ryan Shibley, Andrew Bamberg, Aqua Lee, Southey Blanton, Ron Auguste, Frank Ridley

Buy on DVD
 
 
The Great Debaters (2007)
email this review to a friend

Movie Review by B Movie Ben
December 26th, 2007

You do what you have to do....

This wasn't about my Texas, although I am familiar with many of the topics in this film. I have been to Marshall in my travels over most of the highways in Texas, I know about Paul Quinn College and Prairie View A & M University. This wasn't even about my Daddy's Texas, as he was just a small boy at the time. It was, however, my Grandfather's Texas. he typified the characters in this film.

With Denzel Washington directing and acting, I expected an outstanding film. I was not prepared to be so emotionally taken in that I left the theater wiping tears from eyes. This was a powerful statement about the differences in American. Differences that were typified by Franklin Roosevelt's affirmative action program for whites - the New Deal; differences that would be repeated twenty years later after WWII when the whites again received affirmative action in the form of the GI Bill. Robert Eisele's story really brought home the pain and deprivation of being Black in America, and how some could overcome that deprivation with the right help, but could never overcome the pain.

Besides Washington, there were outstanding performances by Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, and Denzel Whitaker, as a 14-year-old in college.

Tears in my eyes, I will long remember this film as one of the best of the year and of many years.

email this review to a friend

Comment on this Review:

Sorry, you must be a member to add comments to reviews.

Join or Login.


Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS



  RSS | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | About MatchFlick® | Press | Contact Us | FAQs
Partnership and Advertising Opportunities | Movie Database | Merchandise

©2004-2008 MatchFlick®. All rights reserved.
©MOVIE IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED AND THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS