Now Playing: The Great Debaters

"Who is the judge? The judge is God.
Why is he God? Because he decides who wins or loses not my opponent.
Who is your opponent?
He does not exist.
Why doesn’t he exist?
Because he is a mere dissenting voice of the truth I speak."

When I saw the preview for The Great Debaters in September, I was so excited. As a former Debate Captain and coach, I really looked forward to a DEBATING movie! And it had Denzel Washington in it to boot! Debating made sexy and relevant… totally pumped. To top it all off, its main theme is one that I enjoy: the Civil Rights movement. Not usually a topic that makes one happy, but one that I usually feel compelled to watch. Perhaps I’m just weird. Anyway: much anticipated.

Unfortunately, the movie fell quite flat.

First of all: why give away the ending of the film in its byline? I would have been completely oblivious to this, because once I decide to watch a film, I don’t feel the need to watch advertisements or read reviews about it until afterwards. Of course, attending the movie with Mishu means knowing lots of useless facts; the description of the movie on IMDB: “[a] drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.” What the hell… this isn’t like the Titanic, not everyone knows what happened… kriminy. At least they didn't say who won.

Second: the characters weren't nearly fleshed out enough to actually make you care about them. I don’t know what it was: lacklustre directing, a boring script, bad editing decisions… but something was definitely missing. So, their heartache didn't become your heartache. Being a sap, I expected (and came prepared for) tears... but none were forthcoming. The only time I felt a leaping of the heart was when one of the characters gets slapped so hard, it turn his head with a snap (and no, given the subject material, it’s not what you think). Even the “bad guys” didn’t seem nearly as menacing as they ought to have (from the bigoted sheriff to the Texas Rangers to pig farmers)… perhaps this was on purpose? An attempt not to demonise the other parties in a bid for even-handed portrayals? Can lynching be anything but demonic?

Finally: the shocking and scary moments just weren't shocking or scary enough. They seemed glossed over and used as fodder. Which is terrible given the subject matter. In the end, what I appreciate most about movies such as these is the history and I love learning things (i.e. the Willy Lynch speech)… however, it puts the whole movie into a suspicious light when you find out that the history has been tweaked for movie sensationalism: Willy Lynch may have invented lynching, but he never delivered those precise instructions. Perhaps Mr. Washington needs to cut his directing teeth on more palpable movies before biting off more than he can chew because, sadly, the fake lynching speech was more moving than the actual thing as portrayed in the movie.

Good bits: the younger actors were wonderful. They really did a lot for the movie. The acting in general brought this movie up 3 stars. But there is only so much they can do. The actual debating was not as passionate as it could have been (with the exception of the trailer-bit “the time for justice is always right now”), but it was full of wonderful quotes and history (although, ironic for debating a movie, I feel a little cheated and more than a little dubious of their sourcing).

Rent it; don’t expect too much. 3 out of 5 stars.