This is one I've been aching to see since Ebert placed it on his top ten of the year list. The alleged true story of a small-time negro college debate-team that beats Harvard University in a Debate regarding whether violence is ever moral.

The performances from the cast are terrific, the work of Oscar-material. The dialogue and the actual debate sequences are tremendously written, but the film could not resist cliche, emotional manipulation throughout most of the movie. It carries the obvious black-people-don't-deserve-to-be-lynch ed message, along with the whole white-southerners-are-evil message. The movie offered nothing new to the subject of racism, despite being both involving and un-overtly-sentimental throughout said subject scenes, but hardly a breath of fresh air.

One of the younger characters of the film falls in love with a girl who seems to be twice his age, and the film deploys that sub-plot to the point of gagging. She's already in love with another man, who can't help but start a fight with her for no reason in particular, as if though merely for the sake of romantic conflict and Oscar-bait material.

To close, what the film delivered was an at-times touching and stirring, but mostly predictable and conventional, expertly crafted piece of 7.5/10.