Extremely uplifting and very well acted. It also has a few important flaws which, in my thinking, took a film that should have been rated a 9 to a 7.
I heard Denzel Washington say on radio that two "poetic license" changes were made. One was that Wiley College did not defeat Harvard but rather U. of Southern California. This change was made with the permission of both schools. He also said that Wiley College did not, as shown in the film, lose a debate. They went undefeated but felt it would be more dramatic if they gave them a loss.
There are two other problems that I had with this film. One was that it was never explained how Professor Tolson made it to Cambridge since he was required by law NOT to leave the state of Texas.
The second, and in my mind most glaring, is when Professor Tolson asked his team who was the first African-American to earn a PhD. and from what school? I can't remember the name he gave but he said that he graduated from Harvard. In fact, the first African-American to earn a PhD. and the sixth ever in the United States, was Edward Alexander Bouchet and he earned it from Yale and not Harvard. Why is this important? Because there are a tremendous amount of people who are seeing this film and are taking these statements as fact and I think that something as important to a culture as this should be correct.
Other than a few other flaws of much less importance, the movie should be seen and enjoyed for the terrific acting performances of the entire cast.
I heard Denzel Washington say on radio that two "poetic license" changes were made. One was that Wiley College did not defeat Harvard but rather U. of Southern California. This change was made with the permission of both schools. He also said that Wiley College did not, as shown in the film, lose a debate. They went undefeated but felt it would be more dramatic if they gave them a loss.
There are two other problems that I had with this film. One was that it was never explained how Professor Tolson made it to Cambridge since he was required by law NOT to leave the state of Texas.
The second, and in my mind most glaring, is when Professor Tolson asked his team who was the first African-American to earn a PhD. and from what school? I can't remember the name he gave but he said that he graduated from Harvard. In fact, the first African-American to earn a PhD. and the sixth ever in the United States, was Edward Alexander Bouchet and he earned it from Yale and not Harvard. Why is this important? Because there are a tremendous amount of people who are seeing this film and are taking these statements as fact and I think that something as important to a culture as this should be correct.
Other than a few other flaws of much less importance, the movie should be seen and enjoyed for the terrific acting performances of the entire cast.