THE ONLY WAY I SAW DEBATES end, when I was growing up, was when the opposing sides started name-calling. It was common to hear “You are stupid” or You are such an idiot.” I did not know any better until, believe it or not, I was in high school and even then, I still saw examples of bickering and yelling at the end of a debate, if you really want to even call it a debate. The person with the loudest voice or the best putdown usually became the winner. Since I was more of an introvert back then, I had no desire to ever find myself in a situation where I would have to debate someone. My high school may have had a debate team, but I have no memory of them, not even an announcement or assembly or match with another school. It was not until I was in college that I was able to witness a debate where the participants did not yell or call each other names. I found the experience exhilarating and pictured it as if the two participants were fencers playing a match.      THIS DEBATE TOOK PLACE IN A lecture hall for my European history course. The professor had emigrated from Germany after World War II. He was lecturing us about the country’s environment prior to Hitler’s rise to power. During his talk, a student raised their hand to ask a question; the professor acknowledged the student and told him to stand up. The student did and asked the professor to clarify a remark he made about the citizens of his hometown. The professor added more of his insight and when he was done asked the student if he understood. The student said yes, paused a moment, then added that one word that I knew when begin to start a conflict or contest of wits. The word was “but.” It turned out the student’s family emigrated from Europe before he was born, however, the family history was something that fascinated the student all his life. This set up a point, counterpoint situation where the instructor would challenge the student on his beliefs and the student would do the same to the professor. It was a spirited debate, and it appeared the professor was relishing the moment. He would wildly wave his hand in the air to prove a point, using humor and sometimes tragic family tales to drive home his points. The rest of the class sat back in their seats and marveled at what could only be defined as a “spectacle.” This memory came back to me as I found myself watching this interesting drama.      FROM TWO DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND COMPLETELY opposite mindsets about the existence of God, Sigmund Freud invited the author C.S. Lewis to his house to question and debate their differing stands on the subject. It would be a night both would remember. With Anthony Hopkins (The Father, The Two Popes) as Sigmund Freud, Matthew Goode (The Duke, The Imitation Game) as C.S. Lewis, Liv Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin-TV, Zurich) as Anna Freud, Jodi Balfour (For All Mankind, The Rest of Us) as Dorothy Burlingham and Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park, Official Secrets) as Ernest Jones; this film was all about the acting. Anthony and Matthew were exceptional in their roles. I thought the story might have come from Broadway because it gave off the appearance of being a play, except for the writers throwing in flashback scenes which at times took away from the drama of the story. I did feel much of the conversations were stuck on one level as the two iconic figureheads went back and forth with each other. For the most part, I was entertained by this story despite feeling the script needed more depth and intensity to it. Gratefully, Anthony and Matthew did not disappoint me in this fanciful story.                         

2 ¾ stars