Review Summary

Its steadfast humanity, its literacy, its passionate belief in education, its faith that history teaches invaluable lessons and its strong, emotionally grounded performances: There are enough things to admire about “The Great Debaters,” the heavily fictionalized true story of The Little Debate Team That Could, that your impulse is to forgive the movie its shortcomings. The second film directed by Denzel Washington, “The Great Debaters” may not aspire to be more than inspirational pop entertainment in the Oprah Winfrey mode (Ms. Winfrey is one of its producers), but unlike so many films of its ilk, it doesn’t insult your intelligence. And it reminds you that social history airbrushed for the screen by Hollywood is preferable to none at all. Despite its cosmetic embellishments, “The Great Debaters” obviously emanates from the heart. It makes you nostalgic for prototypes like Stanley Kramer’s socially conscious message movies of the 1950s and ’60s and for the era that produced them. As an enduring American myth, the triumph of the sanctified underdog, an intrepid spirit who doesn’t compromise his integrity on the slippery path to victory, may be much the worse for wear in these Darwinian times, but it can still produce a lump in your throat. The real tale of the unlikely ascendance of the debate team at Wiley College, a small all-black institution in Marshall, Tex., in 1935, follows the template of countless sports movies. Perseverance and teamwork lead to untarnished glory. — Stephen Holden, The New York Times