The Great Debaters will likely be dismissed as cheap sentiment as wards season rolls around in comparison to all films making belated statements about the Iraqi war or stylized crime stories.
At it's surface, the film is just an old-fashioned tear jerker about a team of underdogs beating the odds. At the next level, however, the film is a wonderful portrait of small-town life in a racially charged Texas town at the dawn of the civil rights movement.
The underdog in question is a college debate team at a black college and Denzel Washington plays Melvin Tolson, the team's impassioned debate coach with politically questionable ties. Opposite Washington, Forrest Whitaker in a wonderful performance, plays James Farmer Sr., the college president who holds the distinction of being the first black man from his home state to earn a PhD. Both Tolson and Farmer are incredibly dignified and revered men but only within their own world. When Farmer is threatened and humiliated in front of his children by a hillbilly who's pig he accidentally ran over, it's a truly shocking moment that will leave quite an impression.
It's in this oppressed world that Tolson struggles to break barriers for his three star pupils who, through discipline and training, turn into an unbeatable debate team. The three pupils, played by Nate Parker, Jurnee Smallett and Denzel Whitaker; are wonderfully fleshed out characters and the film balances their adolescent tribulations (alcohol, a love triangle, trying to measure up to their parents, etc.) with the pressures they face as three courageous people who are trying to represent themselves with pride.
Whatever flaws the film might have, it is genuinely moving and uplifting and at this time of year, that is increasingly rare.
It is also worth noting that the liberties the film takes with history are not as great as one might think. The story largely tells itself according to true events so any overly clichéd moves in the storyline might be better appreciated when one considers their authenticity.
参考资料：IMDB