 The Great Debaters
Starring: Denzel Washington, Columbus Short, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Jermaine Williams, Nate Parker, Justice Leak, J.D. Evermore, Charissa Allen
Directed by: Denzel Washington
Screenplay by: Robert Eisele
Release: December 25, 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for depiction of strong thematic material including violence and disturbing images, language, sexuality.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
 Domestic: $30,227,882 (100.0%)
Foreign: ---
Total: $30,227,882 (Worldwide)
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 The Wiley College debate team was coached by the brilliant and passionate professor Melvin B. Tolson. It was Tolson’s recognition that the power of knowledge is the greatest advantage of all, which brought these students from underdogs to victors in a time when more than the odds were against them.
Professor Tolson (Denzel Washington) carefully chooses his team not only because they’re the best Wiley College has to offer but because they carry within them the spark of a new generation. He sets out to instill in them confidence and a sense of responsibility for more than just their own lives. At the same time he knows he must protect them from his own covert activities as an organizer of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.
Tolson’s most eager student is 14 year-old prodigy James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker) who endures the pressure of the team in addition to the towering presence of his father James Sr., PhD (Forest Whitaker), a renowned scholar and towering presence. It is James Jr. who grows up quickly by witnessing the horrific acts of prejudice, feeling the pangs of love and becoming the teacher as his father learns that action and assertion must be practiced in order for knowledge to become power.
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