Who is henry lowe great debaters
Want me to hold it for you? Samantha : [walks into the room waving her money in the air] I got five dollars! I got five dollars! Henry Lowe : Yeah, me too. Samantha : Well, mine is crisp. Samantha : James, this is high tea, all right? Samantha : [smiling] I don't. Henry Lowe : A brilliant young woman I know was asked once to support her argument in favor of social welfare. She named the most powerful source imaginable: the look in a mother's face when she cannot feed her children. Third, you can't go wrong with such an inspirational story?
Wiley College, a black college nestled among the winding, lazy, swampy marshes of East Texas, is an unassuming, quiet, small-town college on the outside. One of those larger-than-life professors, he greets his students on the first day of class by climbing on top of a desk, and like a scholarly Muhammad, spews out inspirational quote after inspirational quote. Among his students are Henry Lowe Nate Parker , a bad boy who likes to hang out in juke joints as much as he does college; year-old James Farmer Jr.
James Farmer Sr. Of the 45 students who try out for the college's debate team, led by Tolson, they make the squad. So does the first female debater to do so, Samantha Booke Jurnee Smollett. Washington plays Tolson, and his first classroom appearance is striking.
The third student is based on a real person, James Farmer Jr. Because the real-life Tolson was also an organizer for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, the film also throws a bracing whiff of Depression-era class warfare at the audience.
These scenes and moments may have been seen before, but they are presented with real fierceness, as are the debates themselves. It can be a shock to realize at moments that the issues that plagued America 70 years ago are still very much with us today.
Running time: 2 hours, 3 minutes. In general release. Tolson touched the lives of a number of people like Farmer, Jr. Washington and writer Eisele, though, do make some expected and forced points about the Jim Crow South. James Farmer, Sr. Forest Whitaker is established as a highly educated man who's fluent in seven languages, yet he's just a "boy" to the white tenant farmers, and he must humble himself to them when he accidentally kills one of their pigs.
The point is worth making but we see it coming and the message is delivered without subtlety. In addition, almost all the white characters are stereotypes. It's not that these types of people or their racism didn't exist but the film could have provided some variety.
After all Tolson worked with both black and white tenant farmers to gain workers rights, and there were people at the white colleges who were willing to invite Wiley to debate. So to see some of those characters would have provided a good balance among the minor white roles.
A scene depicting a Texas lynching, however, is handled well and proves deeply affecting. In a scene after the incident, Farmer, Jr. It's a wordless scene that works beautifully. It also serves as a contrast to the final debate where Farmer, Jr. In moments like these the film makes its history lesson deeply personal and moving.
The Great Debaters rated PG for depiction of strong thematic material including violence and disturbing images, and for language and brief sexuality is a well-crafted and enlightening film.
It focuses on a chapter of African American history that is well worth remembering. The attention may actually even help the real Wiley College, which almost closed in the s.
Washington made a million dollar donation to help the school restart their debate team. So maybe this is an instance of a film being able to make an impact on more than just the viewing audience.