The Great Debaters (Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Denzel Whitaker, Jernee Smollett) — When Denzell Washington decides to direct and star in a movie, you know you will get a moralistic drama with a sense of purpose and drama. He did so with Antoine Fisher, a true story of a seaman who was a product of foster homes and the streets who needed to find his roots. In The Great Debaters, we get a mostly true story about an all-black debate team from little all-black Wiley College in a little town in Texas. Washington plays Melvin Tolson, professor and debate coach with an incredible intellect, a driving passion to prepare these young students for a better life way outside the world of racist Texas, and a style that demands perfection. Set in the mid-1930s, Wiley has a strong debate tradition among the black colleges of the southwest. But with the addition of three new prodigies, Henry Lowe (Parker), James Farmer, Jr. (D. Whitaker), and Samantha Booke (Smollett), he has the makings of a great team. In those days, debates consisted of two-person teams in a modified Lincoln-Douglas debate style arguing the affirmative and negative on social policy issues. The drama occurs in two places: the dynamic of the team itself, consisting as it does of an experienced debater, a young rebel, a woman and a 14-year-old prodigal son of a preacher man; and in the clandestine extra-curricular activities of the professor as a union organizer of sharecroppers. The high drama occurs as the team wins meet after meet, gains a national reputation and is ultimately invited to debate the national champions from Harvard (in real life, it was USC, but Harvard is more symbolic, not to mention dramatic). The journey is the story, and it is compelling and engrossing. This film is an almost perfect docudrama told beautifully and powerfully by Washington. The acting is superb and it goes beyond Washington to the phenomenal Forest Whitaker, who plays the preacher with both quiet reverence and fire. The surprises are Parker and young Denzel Whitaker (no relation to either of the stars), both of whom light up the screen. This is an Oscar-worthy film that isn’t expected to do big box office (a hallmark of Oscar films). Oprah Winfrey produced this with veteran Hollywood studio head and producer Joe Roth for The Weinstein Company (the original founders of Miramax and the major studio of independent films) so there is big money behind this film. With Washington having this and American Gangster this year, he might be the leading contender for Best Actor. Don’t miss this since it is only in limited release.