The Great Debaters

   



     There's this 2007 movie called, The Great Debaters that I recently watched. It's all about a  drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. The film is directed by Denzel Washington and stars himself as professor Tolson, Forest Whitaker as James Farmer Sr., Nate Parker as Henry Lowe, Denzel Whitaker as James Farmer Jr., Jurnee Smollett as Samantha Booke, and other casts. I think the characters were chosen for their roles because of the movie’s theme and the story involves African Americans. Each character has a distinct personality that fits their respective roles which give life and add meaning to the film.
     I am amazed by the history of African Americans which speaks of freedom from slavery, justice for human rights and equality of men and women. This is the core of the debate in the film. Some of the driving forces that led to the debate are the  racial discrimination in various states against African Americans and most especially in Texas, “where they lynch Negroes,” according to James Farmer Jr. a character played by Denzel Whitaker.
      The injustices portrayed in the movie are day-to-day insults and slights that African Americans endured in schools, work places, along the road and even in the debate arena, lynching, segregation of African American students from White American students, arresting Professor Tolson for suspicion based only on allegations without reading his rights, lynch mob hanging an African American without fair trial, and others.
     The most important imprint “The Great Debaters” left on me are Samantha Booke’s speech saying, “the time for justice, the time for freedom, and the time for equality is always, is always right now,” and what James Farmer Jr. mentioned in the movie, “St Augustine said, ‘An unjust law is no law at all,’ which means I have a right, even a duty to resist with violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter.” These words left a great impact on me because it made me realize how strong the African Americans are for not giving up the fight for freedom from slavery, oppression, and discrimination even if it takes only words to win a battle.
     I believe this movie was made to inspire freedom, justice and equality fighters to keep fighting for what they believe is right for them and not get tired of taking back one’s righteous mind when it has been taken away from him/her. Since this movie was inspired by a true story, I think it was also created to remind African Americans of their valuable culture and their meaningful history and how their bloody struggle against slavery and racial discrimination transformed into the use of sharp intellectual words as weapons against injustice, oppression and insults.
     I give this film an 8 out of 10.


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