The film, loosely based on a true story, revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at historically black Wiley College to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a pervasive fear for blacks. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University.

release year: 2007

star(s): Denzel Washington    Forest Whitaker    Gina Ravera    Jurnee Smollett    Kimberly Elise    Nate Parker