The Great Debaters (2007/Weinstein Company DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
It has
been a few years since Denzel Washington made Antwone Fisher, the underrated biopic drama about an abused man who
survived the ugliest of circumstances, but surviving the worst is becoming a
hallmark of Washington’s potential directing career and his directing skills
improve with The Great Debaters, one
of 2007’s most underrated films.
Washington
stars as Melvin B. Tolson, a teacher who not only inspired a class of students
to learn who to think in the best possible terms for themselves and their
future, but created a formidable debate team of African Americans in an age
when this was considered the only the a whites-only proposition. At the same time, he was also organizing
workers to take advantage of new workers right’s laws so they would not work
all their lives and have no money to show for it, though he was doing this in
secret as not to compromise his day job.
When the
film was sold and marketed, the angel was that of a feel-good sports film where
the team gets together to win against all odds.
That was a good commercial approach, but the film did not have the
larger critical or commercial success it deserved and the campaign sold the
film short. After seeing the film, you
realize that the debates are merely a metaphor about empowerment and the film
turns out to be one of the most powerful works about African American history
put on film to date.
One of
the great coups is the casting of the ever-amazing Forest Whittaker as Dr.
James Farmer, Sr., whose son (Denzel Whittaker, no kidding about the name)
becomes increasingly involved in Tolson’s ideas and has to start hiding what he
knows about his after-hours work.
Whittaker steals every scene and nearly outacts Washington in their
all-too rare scene together. However,
the chemistry is rich and it is imperative they work together again because the
time on screen is just not enough. The
young cast including Denzel Whittaker, Nate Parker and Jurnee Smollett add up
to star-making work and I hope we see them much more often in the future. John Heard and Kimberly Elise also star.
The
screenplay by Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro is very rich, smart, heart &
soul writing, with some profound moments of pain and ugliness that only make
the weight of the debates more poignant.
Everyone is so good here that the resulting film is a rare synergy of so
many talents working at their height that this is a film that people will be
talking about for years to come. It
feels real and when asked about the team likely winning at the end ala Rocky, I tell everyone that they do not
always win and that is not the point of the film. Instead, The
Great Debaters is about the power of ideas, personal, individualistic,
ideological and cinematic. It is about
the deepest sense of the American Dream against all odds, a message that is
highly timely and makes one have an afterthought that maybe some in the media
wanted this film censored.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is a little weak, especially considering
it was shot in real anamorphic Panavision by Director of Photography Philippe
Rousselot, A.F.C./A.S.C., reuniting with Washington five years after Fisher.
He recently pulled off the amazing work in The Brave One (reviewed elsewhere on this site on HD-DVD) and is
also behind lensing such films as The
Tailor Of Panama, The People vs.
Larry Flint and Hope & Glory. I hope this is a DVD issue about weak Video
Black and detail issues instead of any use of HD or digital internegative. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix fares better,
including a fine use of music and well-recorded dialogue.
Extras on
DVD 1 include three deleted scenes, two Music Videos and a historical
perspective featurette, while DVD 2 adds Melvin B. Tolson poetry text, two
featurettes on the music, one on Sharen Davis’ amazing 1930’s Wardrobe work,
one on David J. Bomba’s fine Production Design, A New Generation Of Actors, Learning
The Art: Our Young Actors Go To Debate Camp and Forest Whittaker On Becoming
James Farmer, Sr. adding up to a great set of extras worthy of the film. See it as soon as possible!
For more
on Washington’s first directing effort, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/354/Antwone+Fisher
- Nicholas Sheffo
