Nicole Symmonds: December 2007 Archives

Many times we run ourselves and our children away from movies that depict segregation and struggle. We cover our eyes, close our ears and refuse to read the books that tell of those who went before us to pave the way. I myself am a victim, having shied away from movies like "Rosewood" and "Amistad" because my stomach and my heart were too weak to watch. But Denzel Washington's latest, "The Great Debaters," shines an inspiring light on a subject that brings many to tears. The film retells the story of Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) the Wiley College professor who fought against all odds in the Jim Crow South to create a championship debate team and unify a small Texas town.

Tolson is a radical who likens himself to Jesus and that spirit resonated throughout the film as faith guides the characters through dangers seen and unseen. From the onset of the story we hear a prayer recited--coincidentally one of Washington's favorite--as we are introduced to Tolson. He is a passionate professor and on the verge of craziness but he also has another side that puts him in danger of ruining his career. Nevertheless his fight is for the good of his people in a town that is still quite segregated despite how it appears. His aim is to create a succesful debate team out of a selection of approximately 20 students and he does so with that Denzel Washington intensity. The results are bad boy Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), partial scaredy cat Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams), son of a teacher/preacher man James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker--no relation to Denzel or Forest) and the breathlessly beautiful but merciless Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollet).