Just as I was drawn to see Freedom Writers, a story of how a dedicated teacher inspired a group of fractious and neglected Long Beach students, I was eager to see The Great Debaters too. Why? Because for one reason, Denzel Washington is a darned fine actor, but also because I just can’t get enough of any clean movie these days that offers an inspiring message. Throw in the fact that it was based on a true story and I’m hooked!
The critics may have found it lacking in some respects, but when the audience erupts in applause during the movie, it’s proof positive that my opinion was shared by many others. It’s a darned fine movie and will leave you inspired, humbled and also horrified in certain parts.
Here’s what else I liked about it:
It shows the importance of going after something you want really bad and working very hard to get it, even though you have to jump a few hoops and take a few lumps along the way.
It gave me a glimpse into the racial prejuidice and hatred that this middle class white lady has only read about in books. In the scene with the lynch mob, the vulnerability of our characters was hard to watch. It’s difficult to believe that people inflicted such pain and atrocities on one another. It’s especially difficult to believe it still happens in our “civilized” world every day.
The debaters moved their audiences with words, but more than that, they moved people through emotion. The polished words and memorized quotes were impressive for sure, but when it came time to pull out the big guns (so to speak), they reached for the highly personal story with a poignant message. Nothing brought the crowd to their feet faster than when the Harvard debater shared his father’s story about losing a partner to crime-ridden streets.
And that’s really the key point. It’s the personal stories and emotional experiences that bring people to their feet. It’s not the “oh so professional”, sanitized versions that move people to action. Nope - reaching down deep and bringing up the gut level truths are what does the trick every time.
Our movie debaters made their words ring with the reality of how horrific racial hatred can be. Which is why I believe the Denver diversity video does such a disservice to us all. If anything deserves respectful “reality”, it’s diversity training. It’s tough to tackle this topic, but there are plenty of good video programs out there.
Watch this video here and see what you think. Thankfully, they pulled it from their program – right around the time the lawsuits started to fly!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYD915P-5c]
I was privileged to sit through a diversity training held many years ago by a colleague from Colorado Springs who may still be an adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership. He presented a program which showed video clips of a wide variety of people making statements about other people. He then asked us to determine if those people were expressing tolerance, acceptance, etc. It was a great way to stimulate dialogue about some of the deeper issues. It fairly represented people from all walks of life, race, creeds, genders. I don’t recall that it pigeonholed or stereotyped anyone.
So as the theatre lights went up, one of my first thoughts after seeing the credits roll from The Great Debaters was this: hatred and bigotry destroys the fabric of what’s great about this country, the people who built our nation and the friends and neighbors we live and work with today. Such a serious topic should never be handled in such a way that it undermines the bigger issues.
The City of Denver was right to pull the video and should have done so much sooner. Their employees deserve far better dialogue than what the stereotypes in that production probably provoked.
I have a suggestion for them. Next time use the money to take their employees to see The Great Debaters. I think it’ll make the point quite nicely!
