'Freedom Writers' Film Review

Based on the true story and the 1999 novel The Freedom Writer's Diary, the movie Freedom Writers depicts the story of Woodrow Wilson High School "at-risk" students and their influential teacher, Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank). 
The story is predictable and yet heart-warming for Mrs. Gruwell is a dedicated new English teacher who helps initiate inspiration in her diverse classroom. She is naïve about her students and has high expectations for them but in the process of becoming a better teacher, her students learn to appreciate her along with them selves. Freedom Writers is a deeply earnest film that challenges the United States education system and yet follows a predictable and familiar storyline. 

Tensions are high in the early 1990's of Long Beach, California for the movie takes place in a gang- violent ridden environment. The story begins with the background of the young Eva Benitez (April Lee Hernández) when she was- you could say- uncorrupted. Eva witnessed her neighbor's drive-by-murder which her father is then falsely accused and convicted of. The audience is therefore, introduced to the difficult and anxious lives the students have and are experiencing. Erin Gruwell shortly-there-after comes into the scene. She is depicted as energetic and naïve about her students and unaware that wearing pearls to class may not be the greatest idea. Despite this, she is head-strong and wanting to teach the 'at-risk' students she was assigned to. Woodrow Wilson High School was described as once being an "A-school" in which the students were high achievers but after "voluntary integration," students became "at-risk." On her first day, tensions in the classroom grew quickly and regardless of her optimistic expectations, the students break-out into a fight which needed assistance. To further set the tone of the movie, we continue to follow Eva's story but in high school. She has pessimistic and stubborn opinions about people, she claims she hates white people (for falsely convicting her father), and that race is the only thing that matters. She describes school "...like a city and cities are like a prison." She acknowledges the racial tensions in her school for different races group together with their "own kind." Erin Gruwell is therefore forced to also acknowledge the racial tension in her classroom. 

Through multiple exercises, Mrs. Gruwell breaks the racial tensions by having her students understand and appreciate each other's and other's problems. She has them participate in "The Line Game" in which the students step-up to a line in response to a yes or no question. Erin asks them questions on the lines of their experiences with gang-violence. The exercise is emotional and eye-opening for her students not only do they admit their difficulties but they see how nearly everyone else is experiencing similar problems. She then has them write in a journal everyday about anything they want in the hopes that writing about their lives will free them. In another influential exercise, this one more unexpected, Erin teaches her students about the Holocaust. After an offensive and racist note was passed around the class of an African-American student, Mrs. Gruwell compares their actions to that of Nazi Germany and the propagandistic posters of Jewish people. The heated and emotional conversation about the Holocaust further led the plot of the movie in which the students read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and even met Hermine "Miep" Gies (owner of the attic in which Anne Frank and her family stayed). The students' experiences with learning and listening about the Holocaust, not only influenced better behavior but taught the students that their lives are not predetermined based on their ethnicity. For as Hermine Gies described it, "... [you] can turn on a small light in a dark room."

 

Freedom Writers is an emotionally raw story which concentrates on the problems in school systems and how ethnicity impacts the opportunity gap. Despite the overall fantastic content and intentions, I thought the film was predictable and oddly familiar. I was not surprised Hilary Swank's character become the heroic figure of the movie, that is, her experiences with her students follow the typical heroic-path. In most story that depict heroes, we are introduced to a character that is naïve and yet optimistic. The hero's strength is tested through multiple trials and tribulations in which their ego is impacted and their motivation decreases. Although, they rise from their difficulties and become a stronger and better hero. The story of Erin Gruwell follows this pattern with of course, a large dose of Hollywood effect. There were multiple aspects of the film that seemed fake or over-exaggerated. Particularly the claim that 100% of the students graduated and the scenes that were emotionally charged. Personally, I believe my bias about Hilary Swank has impacted my opinion of the movie for I generally view her as a less-genuine actress. Despite this, I thought she did a great job depicting a privileged and unexperienced teacher. The movie also tells the familiar story of how a teacher gains the respect of her students through eye-opening lessons. The movie is extremely similar to Dangerous Minds and has aspects of Monsieur Lazhar the only difference is a deeper understanding of the students' lives. Although, there was a lack of information on parental involvement. The school board in the movie along with a few teachers, believed the problem was the students' lack of interest and respect for education but the movie does not address parents as much as they should have. They covered a few students' lives with their parents but the movie did not mention how parents contribute to the problems in the school system. As mentioned in previous blog posts, the complex problem of the poor education system in the United States is not only the way in which the system is designed but also the students and parental involvement. Freedom Writers mostly addresses  'at-risk' students and claims they are the main source of educational distress. Overall, the movie was very interesting and as I mentioned, depicts emotional and controversial topics about the education system. If I were to rate this movie out of five stars, I would give it a three and a half.