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Review #337 of 365
Movie Review of Freedom Writers (2007) [PG-13] 123 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.50
Where Viewed: Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Denver, CO
Special Denver Film Society Advance Screening
When 1st Seen: 14 December 2006
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese (Paris, je t'aime)
Screenplay by: Richard LaGravenese (Paris, je t'aime) based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Pat Carroll ("ER") • Patrick Dempsey ("Grey's Anatomy") • Jason Finn (Mercy Street) • Scott Glenn (The Shipping News) • April L. Hernandez ("ER") • Kristin Herrera ("Zoey 101") • John Benjamin Hickey (Flags of Our Fathers) • Mario (Step Up) • Blake Hightower (American Gun) • Anh Tuan Nguyen (Americanese) • Vanetta Smith ("Judging Amy") • Imelda Staunton (Nanny McPhee) • Hilary Swank (The Black Dahlia) • Robert Wisdom ("The Wire") • Deance Wyatt (Hood of Horror)
Soundtrack: order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Jaime A. Escalante, Glenn Holland, Joe Clark, Pierre Dulaine, Roberta Guaspari, and John Keating. This is a long list of real and fictional teachers or principals who all found themselves facing insurmountable odds in the education of the young minds placed before them, and each utilized inspirational tactics to evoke the passion of their students' hearts transforming them from forgotten at best to criminals at worst into extraordinary young men and women. Add The Freedom Writers Diary's teacher, Erin Gruwell to this esteemed list, and add Hilary Swank's performance as the spunky white woman with a dream to be successful with kids in a newly integrated high school in Los Angeles just a few years after the Rodney King incited race riots, to the possible nominees list for Best Actress in 2007. The film, based on the book, is scheduled for release on 5 January 2007, and will be a welcome prelude and tribute to the week prior in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Some will see the story as another in a string of 'great white hope' teacher films, but this would be an unfortunate and wrongly inspired categorization of the film. Indeed, Erin Gruwell would be the first to admit she is a woman who benefited from white privilege, and that she really had absolutely no clue what she was walking into that very first day she entered Room 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA. With zero seniority, her department head, Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton), assigns Erin (Hilary Swank) to sections of 9th and 10th grade English. She will be carrying a load of 150 students many of whom will be entering with below a 6th grade reading level. So, her pre-made syllabi and lesson plans will require adjustment. Their lower-than-grade reading level, however, will turn out to be the very least of her problems.
"An absolute tear-jerker both of deep sadness and later of joy and redemption, the story is phenomenal."
First of all, some of the kids hate here because she is white, and their experiences with white people to date have been horrendous. Next, most of the students live each day on borrowed time having seen countless friends and relatives shot dead in cold-blooded, gang killings. Some are third generation gang members themselves. By and large, they are each one a life story worthy of telling due to the extraordinary levels of drama and pain each has endured in a short 14-year life. Her first few days, needless to say, are demoralizing. Her husband, a short-sighted, self-centered architect wannabee, Scott (Patrick Dempsey) provides modest support and comfort, but grows weary over time as she gives her kids more and more of hers. Her father, Steve (Scott Glenn) feels the job and salary are well beneath her. Her fellow teachers and department head offer her little sustenance or consolation. And, as each day passes, her classroom falls further into disarray. She does make some minor inroads with the skeptical bunch when she tries one day to get with their lingo and talk about the iambic pentameter used by Tupak Shakur in his raps. Her mispronunciation of Tupak gets a little laugh out of the kids some of whom start to see that she is trying to reach them, but most still see her as a white woman wearing beautiful pearls who has no idea what their real life is all about. Throughout it all, against all odds, she continues to work to reach them, and to give them something they've never had, especially from a white person, respect and faith in their ability to do what is right and to soar. She teaches from her heart; and, eventually, over time and through many hours of building trust, she starts to make in-roads with them. Because she dares to flirt with the rules and regulations and road blocks her dept. head throws at her, her life becomes more and more complicated including her taking, as her husband puts it, a second and third job to pay for her first job?? But, she wants the kids to have their own journals and eventually their own books. One day, in class, a racial caricature drawn by a Latino student of a Black student gets passed around, and once in Ms Gruwell's hands, a water shed moment happens when she likens the drawing to those produced by the Nazi propaganda machine in pre-WWII Germany against the Jews. It becomes evident in class that the kids have never heard of the holocaust, have no idea that their own feelings of ethic and racial cleansing bred into them by their gangs, resemble the same loathing and hatred for other groups of people utilized by the Nazis. In this particularly poignant class, there is a major shift in the room that catalyzes everything else. I won't spoil the plot any further than to say that some amazing things happen for Erin and her class that, believe it or not, the other teachers in the school and even the principal will doubt and try to stop illustrating, again, one of the countless problems with the USA public education system.
The making of this movie was quite obviously a labor of love for everyone involved. Executive produced by Hilary Swank with help from the likes of Danny DeVito, written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, Freedom Writers with its cast of virtually unknown teen actors who capture the roles of the real kids in Ms G's class so perfectly, including Jason Finn as Marcus, April L. Hernandez as Eva, Mario as Andre, Vanetta Smith as Brandy, and Deance Wyatt as Jamal Hill, represents a remarkable story of how it is possible, truly possible, for one person who stands up for what she believes, to make a huge difference in the world. And Erin Gruwell's successes include over 150 Freedom Writers who were among the first in his or her family to graduate from high school and go to college. The book produced from the actual writings of her students has been a phenomenal and inspirational success. The Freedom Writers themselves have founded a foundation to raise money to pay for other students to go to college. It is absolutely amazing how much Erin Gruwell accomplished and is still accomplishing. Two hopes I would have for the film are that every adult who sees it, realizes the invaluable impact adults can have on a teeanage and does something from making a donation to Freedom Writers at their web-site (linked above), and two that every kid who sees it realizes that while every grown up they meet might not understand their exact situation, it doesn't mean that they cannot help them directly or indirectly toward a better life regardless of their race. The film also does more good for the world for racial and religions understanding than an entire slew of documentaries on the subject did in 2006. Primarily because Erin Gruwell sought to find ways for the kids to see they, regardless of racial background, share more in common than they realize. She does not seek to place blame on anyone, rather she just works to help them find their common ground. In the process she helps them discover their humanity. This is a powerful and compelling story seared with tragedy of lives in the gang-torn parts of the USA where their grip on the kids begins at an early age and usually ends at their demise by 18. Ms Gruwell herself endures personal losses in her life from which she must go onward. An absolute tear-jerker both of deep sadness and later of joy and redemption, the story is phenomenal. Richard LaGravenese's script and direction also show that he really understands the power of the story and the importance it could hold in showering hope on everyone who sees the film.
The making of this movie was quite obviously a labor of love for everyone involved. Executive produced by Hilary Swank with help from the likes of Danny DeVito, written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, Freedom Writers with its cast of virtually unknown teen actors who capture the roles of the real kids in Ms G's class so perfectly, including Jason Finn as Marcus, April L. Hernandez as Eva, Mario as Andre, Vanetta Smith as Brandy, and Deance Wyatt as Jamal Hill, represents a remarkable story of how it is possible, truly possible, for one person who stands up for what she believes, to make a huge difference in the world. And Erin Gruwell's successes include over 150 Freedom Writers who were among the first in his or her family to graduate from high school and go to college. The book produced from the actual writings of her students has been a phenomenal and inspirational success. The Freedom Writers themselves have founded a foundation to raise money to pay for other students to go to college. It is absolutely amazing how much Erin Gruwell accomplished and is still accomplishing. Two hopes I would have for the film are that every adult who sees it, realizes the invaluable impact adults can have on a teeanage and does something from making a donation to Freedom Writers at their web-site (linked above), and two that every kid who sees it realizes that while every grown up they meet might not understand their exact situation, it doesn't mean that they cannot help them directly or indirectly toward a better life regardless of their race. The film also does more good for the world for racial and religions understanding than an entire slew of documentaries on the subject did in 2006. Primarily because Erin Gruwell sought to find ways for the kids to see they, regardless of racial background, share more in common than they realize. She does not seek to place blame on anyone, rather she just works to help them find their common ground. In the process she helps them discover their humanity. This is a powerful and compelling story seared with tragedy of lives in the gang-torn parts of the USA where their grip on the kids begins at an early age and usually ends at their demise by 18. Ms Gruwell herself endures personal losses in her life from which she must go onward. An absolute tear-jerker both of deep sadness and later of joy and redemption, the story is phenomenal. Richard LaGravenese's script and direction also show that he really understands the power of the story and the importance it could hold in showering hope on everyone who sees the film.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Freedom Writers (2007)
Cast Members
Pat Carroll
• Patrick Dempsey • Jason FinnScott Glenn
• April L. Hernandez • Kristin HerreraJohn Benjamin Hickey
• Mario • Anh Tuan NguyenVanetta Smith
• Imelda Staunton • Hilary SwankRobert Wisdom
• Deance WyattWriter / Director
Richard LaGravenese
| Book | CD Soundtrack | |
| Related Book |
Freedom Writers (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Jaime A. Escalante, Glenn Holland, Joe Clark, Pierre Dulaine, Roberta Guaspari, and John Keating. Real and fictional educators who faced insurmountable odds to educate the young minds placed before them and utilized inspirational tactics to evoke the passion of their students' hearts transforming them from forgotten youth into extraordinary young people. Add The Freedom Writers Diary's teacher, Erin Gruwell to this esteemed list. The spunky white woman, portrayed with grace by Hilary Swank, had a dream to be successful with kids in a newly integrated high school in Los Angeles just a few years after the race riots. Quite obviously a labor of love, Freedom Writers, writer / director Richard LaGravenese and his cast of virtually unknown teen actors captured this absolute tear-jerker of a story making it into a extraordinary and important film where common ground among very different people represents the ultimate survival strategy.
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