8/10
“Everyone thinks you should be happy just because you’re young. They don’t see the wars that we fight every single day.’
This movie popped up on my Netflix page and I decided to give it a watch. I sometimes feel that the early 2000’s films made for movie theatres had more empathy and a stronger narrative than many of the streaming movies available today.
This inspiring drama is based on the true story of Erin Gruwell, a new teacher in a high school in Long Beach who takes on a class of “at-risk” students who are divided by race and conflict. Determined to change their perspective, she encourages unity and inspires them to pursue education beyond high school.
After discovering their troubled backgrounds, she introduces them to journaling and they start reading the Diary of Anne Frank, which triggers the students into sharing their own painful experiences as they slowly transform their perspective on life.
This feature highlights the real-life struggles of kids caught up in gang violence, racism and poverty, making it thought-provoking and a deeply moving experience. You find yourself going through all their emotions with them. At its core FREEDOM WRITERS is about resilience and hope and how one teacher can make a difference by helping these children in difficult times.
Hilary Swank’s performance as the teacher Erin is exceptional and she magnificently portrays the underlying tones of her heartfelt compassion toward her students without overdoing it. The young cast too are phenomenal, especially April Lee Hernández who plays Eva Benitez and you can see that she put everything she had into her role.
Directed exceptionally well by Richard LaGravenese the action moves along at a good pace and flowed well. I wasn’t bored and wasn’t tempted to fast forward at all.
Some older films you watch, you can’t help thinking that they are a bit outdated and have fallen out of step with the times. This movie is not one of them. America still grapples with racism and prejudice and gangs still blight towns and cities across the country.
I am sure there are many teachers like Erin Gruwell who are trying to help young people, but we never get to hear their stories of how they have changed lives.
I had a teacher like Erin Gruwell called Rachel Long, she was probably the best teacher that I ever had, and she understood me the best and inspired me to make the most of my abilities. She taught me in the best way, and I am very grateful for that.
This film is just brilliant, and I can’t recommend it enough. I am probably 18 years too late, but to be fair I was 7 when the film came out so it probably escaped me!