
Release Date
December 25, 2007 (Limited)
DVD Release Date
May 13, 2008 (Buy on Amazon)
Director
Denzel Washington
Writer
Robert Eisele
Cast
Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker
Studio
Running Time
123 minutes
MPA Rating
Rated PG-13 for depiction of strong thematic material including violence and disturbing images, and for language and brief sexuality
Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and inspired by a true story, "The Great Debaters" chronicles the journey of a brilliant but volatile coach (Denzel Washington) who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small, modest black college in East Texas into an elite debate team while challenging the social mores of the time, culminating with a groundbreaking invitation to debate Harvard's championship team.... Full synopsis »
MOVIE REVIEW
The latest in a subset genre I like to call "teacher genres", The Great Debaters is Denzel Washington's second directorial effort after the critically acclaimed Antwone Fisher. Washington also stars as Melvin B. Tolson, a teacher who led his all-black debate team to go up against a white school - Harvard, no less - for the first time in history.
Full movie review »