![]() ![]() This movie is about the fact that African Americans and their progressive allies had that courage to make a difference then and it inspires us to make the difference now. For anyone, and especially anyone Black, to stand up and not only debate the validity of existing “jim crow” policies but the revolutionary right to overturn racist segregation was an act of indomitable courage. It is about a time in our history when African Americans were regarded as less than human and victimized by lynching pogroms in the backwoods of Texas and throughout the land. In my view there is nothing mixed about the message in this movie. Farmer stands tall as a man of the people. When the struggles of the angry sharecroppers hit the streets of this little town Rev. (played by Forest Whitaker) raises his son to be committed to the strivings of his people as well as himself. ![]() There are also less subtle but still powerful messages in the way Rev. There is a powerful message here just in contrasting this with what goes on in classrooms today. Racism’s validity is vigorously debated but capitalism as the main perpetrator of social and economic injustice is not let off the hook. Tolson (played by Denzel Washington) uses the classroom as a boot camp to prepare promising young to be conscious participants in the great class battles and social struggles of the day and he defends his right to be a Communist. What is the purpose of education and how does it relate to the survival of a people? Professor/Poet/Agitator-Organizer/Educator and family man Melvin B. The questions of child labor, integration, the right to organize unions, social welfare and relief for the poor, and the revolutionary duty to challenge unjust laws are all touched upon by these debaters. The great social debates of this era of radical reforms are honestly reflected in this movie. It was a time when the working class was historically obligated to make great, new strides in unionization of workers it was a time when the Communist Party boldly seized the helm of the organizing drive in the South to organize the sharecroppers union and at the risk of life and limb stood for racial equality. The story comes out of the era of the “Great Depression” when there was great social upheaval among working people, farmers and the racially oppressed. Louis Post Dispatch reviews give reluctant praise and hold the movie to standards of historical accuracy that are a little far fetched for a movie that makes the modest claim “based on a true story.” The movie is based on a true story about a Black college debate team in Marshall, Texas who rose to national prominence to defeat the national champions of 1935 at Harvard, University (The New York Times Reviewer Stephen Holden says it was the University of Southern California). He would go on to star in the 2002 thriller, Panic Room, where he played the role of one of three burglars who decide to rob the home of Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter, played by The Twilight Saga's Kristen Stewart.Denzel Washington, Forrest Whitaker, Junree Smollett, Nate Parker, Gina Vera, Denzel Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, John Heard and indeed the entire cast of white and Black actors did a fantastic job of delivery and performance in this movie. His remarkable success continued into the 2000s with his appearance in the British-Canadian film The Fourth Angel starring Jeremy Irons and Jason Priestley. ![]() From there he went on to play the star lead as a mysterious Mafia hitman in the 1999 crime film, Ghost Dog: Way of The Samurai which grossed a little over $9 million at the box office. His next movie was Phenomenon, a 1996 romantic fantasy drama starring John Travolta and Kyra Sedgewick which grossed $152 million. in an independent film titled Smoke, which was a box office success with a gross earning of $38 million. In 1995, he appeared alongside the acting genius William Hurt and Harold Perrineau Jr. As his career progressed into the 1990s, Whitaker continued hooking big fish roles with well-known directors, such as the 1992 thriller The Crying Game where he played the role of a captive British soldier, going as far as employing an English accent. ![]()
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