RANDOM REVIEW OF THE DAY: Freedom Writers (2007)

You would think after films like Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me, and Dangerous Minds the based on a true story about a teacher who inspires a classroom of delinquent students to better in their education would quickly grow old and would no longer make an impact. Luckily the 2007 drama, Freedom Writers, surprisingly proved the statement wrong. Based on the autobiography the Freedom Writers Diary, which was written by the real students portrayed in the film as a collection of their journal entries, Freedom Writers is about a bright teacher named Erin Gruwell, played by Hilary Swank, who is hired to teach an English class for at-risk students at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California in 1994. Much to her dismay, at first she receives disrespect from the students and is not too happy when she sees there is possibly no hope for the students, that is until she finds an opportunity to teach them about the Holocaust. She uses the lesson of the Holocaust to teach the students about prejudice, anti-violence, and cruelty against the Jews at the concentration camps. Meanwhile, the students fight their own battles in their own story arcs that deal with breaking the status quo and norms of the worlds they come from. Ms.Gruwell also has to deal with her reluctant husband who later divorces her but she sticks with her students as she and them learn so much about each other and the outside world, as she leads them down to the road of success and to college. Let me start off by saying that I think Hilary Swank did a decent job as Gruwell. True I do not know if the performance was true to the real Gruwell, but just judging by character Swank plays the role straight and real  . She really seems like one of those teachers a student can get along with no matter what they're GPA status says about them. The students are also portrayed well and very believable. Whether they are sharing dialogue or if there is a visible expression their face, they give believable performances. You can tell these kids probably did their research before going into these roles. Through their performances they really make you feel for them and the troubles they are going through. Also the hip hop music used that was popular at the time the film takes place puts the audience in the mood of the film and it further helps us get related to atmosphere and the scenes happening in the movie. Overall it is the characters and tone is what really makes the story and it does a good job for getting the audience sucked in and invested into these characters' lives. In the end we want to see them succeed and we want Ms. Gruwell to get them to their goal. Of course we already know what happens since it is in fact based on a true story, but we still want to know and the film certainly does a good job of keeping the audience's interest.  Freedom Writers works as good inspirational movie to show that our struggles, our lessons what he have learned through our past expereinces, and what makes unique can possibly in the end make us succeed. Grade: P