Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, Lili Taylor, Adrian Lester. Drama. Written by Fred Parnes, Andrew Wagner. Directed by Andrew Wagner.
FILM SYNOPSIS: A young post graduate, taken with a once renown writer, sets out to write a thesis about the intellectual and his work. Soon she forms a romantic attachment to the elderly man, who is flattered by the attention, yet cautious about such an arrangement. The writer is already dealing with several problems. He is frustrated with an inability to finish his latest novel or to find a publisher still interested in his style. He is also concerned about his daughter Ariel, a 39-year-old woman who is struggling with failed romance and the desire to have a baby. On top of that, the author is dying. PREVIEW REVIEW: It is a thoughtful, revealing look at intellectual New York life, with the main characters examining good work and thoughtful ideas, but alas, without much regard for spiritual matters. Solid performances, especially from Mr. Langella, and contemplative dialogue make for interesting viewing for those more pleasured by wit and revelation in movies than by things that go boom. But though fascinated by characters who are moved by great literature, and pleased that their intricate conversations are devoid of crude or profane language, still, I found the characters shallow and the production aimless. This is not a snipe at the performers or the filmmaker’s intent. But while the film concerns a man facing his own mortality and this is a tale of people seeking peace and purpose, God is never a part of the equation. Can people who spend so much time examining the world around them really be completely impassive about spiritual matters? These folks are. True, there probably are some who dismiss the possibility of God while facing death, but this film refuses to even acknowledge Him. Like a puzzle missing a key piece, I found the ending incomplete and frustrating. For me, it wasn’t a film that concluded with people finding redemption, but ultimately, missing it. DVD Alternative: Places in the Heart. A literate script presents a determined widow (Sally Field) bent on saving her farm during the '30s Depression. Contains perhaps the greatest ending to a film this buff has ever seen. A repentant adulterer is finally forgiven, when his wife, moved by the pastor's sermon, takes her husband's hand during the service, signifying the restoring of a relationship through Christ's love. Just as we put our hankies away after that moving moment, another symbolic healing occurs. I won't give that one away. Trust me, it's powerful! Rated PG (some mild language, implied adulterous affair – but it furthers the story and it is not explicit).
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In the mid-1930s, Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, had already come a long way on faith. The historically black school, founded by Northern Methodists after the Civil War, was graduating hundreds of students. The Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools had recently ranked it an “A” class institution. But outside Wiley’s halls, the country was still struggling through the Great Depression. And in the South, Jim Crow laws kept black Americans locked in a world of forced segregation and racial bigotry. James Farmer Sr. (Forest Whitaker) says a prayer for that world in the opening scene of The Great Debaters. He greets Wiley’s 1935-36 freshman class and assures them that education is “the only way out of our present darkness, into the glorious light.” Farmer, a Methodist Episcopal deacon and theology professor, worries especially about one of those students, his own son James Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Viewers may know James Jr. is destined to be a leader in the U.S. Civil Rights movement. But here, he’s just a 14-year-old prodigy, auditioning for a place on the Wiley debate team that is led by English teacher Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington). Tolson, a modernist poet, insists on writing the team’s arguments himself, but he also wants passionate speakers who won’t buckle down in heated competition. James wins a spot, and is joined by classmates Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett), Henry Lowe (Nate Parker) and Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams). They first go up against teams from other black institutions—Fisk University in Nashville, Howard University in Washington, Paul Quinn College in Dallas—and win every time. Next up, interracial debates with several Ivy League schools. And there, too, they remain undefeated. Then comes a fateful cross-state trip, and the end of easy self-confidence. Driving late at night, they encounter a rural lynch mob that has just finished hanging and burning a black man to death. For James Jr. especially, the experience is paralyzing. He falls silent during the next day’s debate. The team loses, and he can’t wait to get home. We know, of course, that he’ll overcome his fears. Later in life, Farmer credited his time at Wiley with inspiring him to fight the evils of racism and segregation. Tolson, he often said, “awakened my soul.” For a while, though, he’s torn between allegiance to Tolson and his father, both natural leaders whose tactics differ greatly. Tolson, in his off-hours, works as an organizer for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, sparking trouble with the local sheriff (John Heard). James Sr., however, believes in striving quietly for justice through his ministry, and he’s afraid his son may go astray under Tolson’s influence. Their conflict comes to a head in a lively scene—an informal debate, let’s say, between Mr. Washington and Mr. Whitaker. It’s all resolved when circumstances call for one man to stand up for the other, and James Jr. sees that both are heroes. Robert Eisele’s screenplay is based on research, but it’s also fictionalized—most characters except for Tolson and the Farmer family are composites of several people. Events are altered too, with the team facing Harvard in a national championship instead of their real-life opponent, the University of Southern California. OK, so The Great Debaters isn’t a documentary. But it is dynamic, with vivid performances not only from the two veteran stars but also the young unknowns. And as a director, Mr. Washington proves that his fine debut with Antwone Fisher (2002) was no fluke. He’s a good storyteller, never relying on showy camerawork when simple dramatic tension will do the job. A word to parents: The MPAA hadn’t rated the movie at press time, but besides the lynching, it also includes a brief, inexplicit scene of sex, some strong language and a suggestion of underage drinking. If children 13 and over want to go, don’t keep them away, but be sure to go with them. Discussion Questions 1. Like James Jr., did you ever receive conflicting messages from mentors when you were growing up? What did you do? Bill Fentum is a staff writer for The United Methodist Reporter. This review was published in the December 21 issue of the Reporter, and is posted on Preview with permission from UMR Communications, 1221 Profit Drive, Dallas, Texas 75247. 1-800-947-0207.
Staff Writer for The United Methodist Reporter
2. Before the advent of television, public debates drew large audiences across the country. What was lost when the art of debating declined in popularity?
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FILM SYNOPSIS: The Academy Award®-winning producer and special-effects team behind The Lord of the Rings join with Revolution Studios, Walden Media (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Beacon Pictures to bring to the screen the magical motion picture The Water Horse. Rooted in legend, the story begins with a lonely boy finding an enchanted egg on a Scotland beach. The hatchling is a mythical sea serpent that quickly outgrows the bathtub, setting the stage for the superstition known as the Loch Ness Monster. The boy and his monster become the best of friends. But uh-oh, the military has moved in. They’re stationed there in order to keep Hitler’s submarines out of the bay. Sadly, most of the soldiers aren’t aware that this huge seaside Cecil is no threat – and they have a big gun. This could cause problems. PREVIEW REVIEW: I was awed by the CG effects. This creature and its environment are absolutely life-like. Equal to the special effects are the engrossing fantasy, the professionalism of those before and behind the camera, and the locales, which are breathtakingly photographed. It is a film that will captivate older kids (though it might spook their younger siblings). Entertaining, clean and imaginative, it may be the best boys’ film of the year. That said, there is a small problem. Nowadays, we are so accustomed to violent imagery in movies that it has become almost passé for reviewers to remark on such content. Indeed, most don’t. But while this film opens with a cute baby sea dragon befriended by a friendless child, the storyline becomes intense as the family deals with the death of the father and the destructive nature of the soldiers who have stationed themselves in the family’s home. Once again, we have a movie that pictures the military in a bad light. Perhaps more subtle than, say, In The Valley of Elah, but the film has a distinct message aimed at children – war is bad and so are most soldiers. This takes place during WWII, in Europe, where entire countries were traumatized by Hitler’s invading armies. It is doubtful that the lead female, a Scottish woman, would have made negative remarks concerning protecting servicemen. Nor would such an attitude have been slipped into a movie at that time. But aside from its vague anti-military slant and the intensity of the later action sequences, the film contains several positive themes. And in defense of the filmmakers, the foolish army captain eventually does the right thing.
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FILM SYNOSPSIS: In this follow-up to the box-office hit National Treasure, treasure hunter Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) once again sets out on a new global quest to unearth hidden history and treasures. When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Ben’s great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s death. Determined to prove his ancestor’s innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America where he has to…kidnap the President in order to get a clue (I kid you not). PREVIEW REVIEW: I can’t believe how many people have asked me about this film. I don’t get it. There’s nothing dirty in it. Nothing risqué. I guess people just like to see a good Raiders of the Lost Ark-type action adventure once in a while and are willing to forgo the usual movie content of dysfunction, cynicism and profane language in order to see it. Go figure. If you can leave all reasoning power at the ticket booth, you will have a fun time with this lively, witty, clean and often exciting adventure. ‘Course, if you begin to use logic, well, let’s not go there. The film has a great look, the direction is focused, and once again, Nicolas Cage gives a likable performance.
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FILM SYNOPSIS: Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable…and manmade. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City…and maybe the world. But he is not alone. He is surrounded by “the Infected" - victims of the plague who have mutated into carnivorous beings who can only exist in the dark and who will devour or infect anyone or anything in their path. For three years, Neville has spent his days scavenging for food and supplies and faithfully sending out radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. All the while, the Infected lurk in the shadows, watching Neville’s every move, waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind’s last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But his blood is also what The Infected hunt, and Neville knows he is outnumbered and quickly running out of time. PREVIEW REVIEW: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” So learn the scientists who attempt to eliminate all illness from the earth. The vaccine used to inoculate everyone against cancer goes so wrong that everyone except Will Smith (maybe others) becomes a flesh-eating member of Night of the Living Dead. It contains moments of cacophonous thrills, others of philosophical profundity, with a continuous intensity. Computer trickery is so impressive these days that Manhattan can be turned into a Mad Max wasteland and monsters can become the things that nightmares are made of. Though the story has its roots in such films as On the Beach, The World, the Flesh and the Devil, and every zombie movie ever conceived, it is so well done by its technical crew and injected with such a bravura performance by its star that it becomes a satisfying seat-grabber of a movie. There are several moments that show regard for the Creator. When Neville’s wife and child board a helicopter, there is a family prayer. At another point, the lead character is quick to let someone understand that this catastrophe was not the fault of a Supreme Being: he unequivocally states, “God didn’t do this, we did.” And though at one point at his most desolate, the character in anger yells out there is no God, the ending reveals that not only is God still among us, but the character was being used by the Almighty to aid mankind.
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