What an awesome birthday present

So, one of the best birthday presents for my big 1-8 birthday was going to see the movie The Great Debaters. Why? Well, the non-fiction story of the movie is that of an all-black college in the 1930's. Denzel Washington's character heads up a debate team at Wiley College...can you guess where? Marshall, Texas. I remember hearing about the creation of this movie quite awhile back, before I was even done with high school. I remember my school bus would drive by Wiley College every morning on the way to middle school and junior high. Mrs. Holmes, my bus driver, graduated from Wiley. It's not a school that people really talk about...the most I knew about it was that caucasians generally didn't go there. I feel like this movie is really significant, because East Texas towns don't get much of any rep on the big screen, especially Marshall. The movie is well written and produced, and very powerful. The story revolves around racial issues, which is significant today as I perceive Marshall to still be somewhat segregated, as much of the South still is. Anyway, one of Wiley's professors forms a debate team, which is little-known. The movie follows the debate team as they struggle to defeat known black colleges, as they move on to white colleges (one of the first all-black schools to do so), and ultimately to the best of the best...Harvard. In the backdrop, or should I say, the forefront of their lives, the characters struggle to endure the cruelty of the white population of Marshall. The characters of the debate team themselves are fascinating. James Farmer, the quite young son of a respected Wiley professor and preacher; Samantha Booke (with an 'e'), the first female ever on the Wiley debate team; Henry Lowe (also with an 'e'), the quite intelligent guy who has a hard time dealing with his problems. The scenery of the movie is very East Texas-esque, something I was very curious about. I don't know if they filmed the lake scenes at Caddo Lake, but CL is a very popular place for everyone around here to go.

This movie is very powerful to me because of all the crap the characters have to go through. At one point later in the movie, the team is driving to another college, and as they are driving they stumble across a black man being lynched, with a group of white men surrounding him. The team barely escapes the angry mob after it realizes that their car is full of black people. Later in the evening, Henry Lowe basically has a breakdown. After James Farmer confronts him, Henry gets upset at James and tells him--"You will never forget what you saw. You will never forget how that felt." Gaah, it was awful.

Go see this, it's worth all of your money. Go learn about the story of this college from my hometown, and think of me. Enjoy the richness of the characters, enjoy the scenery in the movie, and enjoy a part of history!