Comments on the Movie
"The Great Debater"
"The Great Debater"
It was early 2008 when I saw the DVD of the movie " The Great Debater" displayed on the sidewalk. I was attracted to its title, thus, I bought it hoping and expecting to see a full-blown debate which I never experienced personally. Thereafter, I immediately went home eager to find out what the debate was all about and curious on how it inspired a struggling nation.
When i got home I hurriedly played the movie, I found out that it was a story of black/negro debating team who through several victories of debating they reached the level of challenging the best debating team for the national championship, that is, the Harvard University debating team.
Now here is my personal comment on the film, after I saw the movie I disliked it because it was another David-Goliath story. The story was very common "underdog effect" story, I feel that the only purpose of such plot is to easily gain the sympathy of its viewers and mostly the climax for such plot is that the underdog ends up victorious. Moreover, I also dislike the love affairs between the members of the debating team. It was very disappointing because I tend to compare it with Tagalog and/or Korean telenovela " Love Triangle" which is also very common.
In short, I was disappointed because I was expecting to see on how the debating team inspire the struggling American nation. Maybe perhaps I just didn't understand the whole story at all because I do not have any background on debate. Further, I had a hard time contemplating on why or how did the underdog debaters won the debate against the supposed powerhouse Harvard University.
Recently, when my professor, particularly the subject on Forensics, announced that we will have our film showing on the film The Great Debater for the purpose of illustrating a debate, I was a little bit concerned because of my first impression on the movie. However, when I saw the film again I found out that it was indeed a good film to illustrate a debate.
Thank you for reading.
When i got home I hurriedly played the movie, I found out that it was a story of black/negro debating team who through several victories of debating they reached the level of challenging the best debating team for the national championship, that is, the Harvard University debating team.
Now here is my personal comment on the film, after I saw the movie I disliked it because it was another David-Goliath story. The story was very common "underdog effect" story, I feel that the only purpose of such plot is to easily gain the sympathy of its viewers and mostly the climax for such plot is that the underdog ends up victorious. Moreover, I also dislike the love affairs between the members of the debating team. It was very disappointing because I tend to compare it with Tagalog and/or Korean telenovela " Love Triangle" which is also very common.
In short, I was disappointed because I was expecting to see on how the debating team inspire the struggling American nation. Maybe perhaps I just didn't understand the whole story at all because I do not have any background on debate. Further, I had a hard time contemplating on why or how did the underdog debaters won the debate against the supposed powerhouse Harvard University.
Recently, when my professor, particularly the subject on Forensics, announced that we will have our film showing on the film The Great Debater for the purpose of illustrating a debate, I was a little bit concerned because of my first impression on the movie. However, when I saw the film again I found out that it was indeed a good film to illustrate a debate.
Thank you for reading.
By: BASCO FIDEL C. GALLARDO
