Debating Robert Lee

No folks this is not about the Confederate general. Drop the middle initial and you have Dale Midkiff who teaches debate at a California high school and the kids who take it are looking for an elective to graduate. But the class itself and the class as constituted by the kids who take it are much more than that. Debate and Midkiff previously taught a class at a military academy sees it in military terms. It's war and the battlefield is ideas. To make sure of your position on any issue you must think and debate is to make you think.

I can see that a lot of people who simply accept facts and memes without question will not be happy with Debating Robert Lee. I can assure you it won't be shown at film night at Pat Robertson's Regent University.

Some nice performances by Midkiff and his young cast. I'd single out Beau Bridges and Melinda Dillon as his parents and among the kids Daniel Letterle and Billy Kay.

This one is worth a look.

Don't expect to see a civil war movie when you get this. This movie is about a tough teacher who presides over a debate class and challenges them with tough topics and gets them to back up their feelings and put them aside with cold, hard facts. (i.e., he gets a black student to speak both for & against slavery during the civil war era.) He also has them discuss gays in the military and euthanasia in their debates, the latter of which he uses in competition.

This movie is more than just about a debate class. It is about real life and teamwork, as the students are "opposites" when they are teamed up. They apply what they learn in real life to back up their arguments in real life, and they are inspired by both their class and their teacher. (a la Dead Poets Society) The teacher does the same, especially with one of the topics. I loved the movie, and you will too.

*** out of ****

Debating Robert Lee was recommended to me by a friend, and was definitely a movie worth watching. The characters were all well thought-out and well portrayed by the actors, while the plot moves swiftly along, never dragging on or losing focus.

The story itself (without spoilers) takes on topics such as tolerance, competition, and the search for acceptance. It deals easily with its subject matter and never becomes over-dramatic.

Other reviews here keep citing one particular scene as a time discrepancy; in my opinion, they're being overly critical. In no way does the scene exclude the possibility of the passage of time. Don't let a distasteful review and one measly scene ruin an otherwise good movie.