Five years after his directorial bow – the underwhelming Antwone Fisher – Denzel Washington scoops up the megaphone again for another true (albeit heavily fictionalised) story. This one’s inspired by a little-known episode from the Depression-era South, following a debating team at the all-black Wiley College in Marshal, Texas. Washington also stars as Melvin B Tolson, a real-life radical English teacher who plays the part of team leader for all his inspirational worth: offering up barnstorming speeches, sucking on an unlit pipe, as he cajoles, berates and goads his team of students into fighting shape. “Debate is a blood sport,” he informs them, “and words are your weapons.”
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