An unflinching look at the plight of an inner-city, ethnically diverse high school, is the subject of this classroom drama. Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby”) lends her star status to the film, which is based upon the actual diaries of the students in Ms. Erin Gruwell’s English class. “Freedom Writers” is equal parts upsetting and hopeful, as the movie retreads similar ground as prior classroom dramas, but with a slightly new angle and strong performances from the cast.
Swank is Ms. Gruwell, a new teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, in Long Beach, California, who tries desperately to engage her class in learning, which seems to be the last thing on most of their minds. As explained in the film, it is the early ‘90s and the streets are not safe, as black, Latino, and Cambodian gangs are at war with each other, and innocent people are pulled into the conflict. Ms. Gruwell must also battle her fellow teachers and school administrators, most of which have given up on the students and the school, because of the constant threat of violence. Ms. Gruwell comes up with innovative approaches to teaching, which begins to intrigue these street hardened kids, including having them keep a personal diary, to chronicle their experiences and feelings in.
I know these types of stories have been told before in film, however “Freedom Writers” packs some powerful punches from the beginning, making the teens and their plight feel very real and very hazardous. Swank doesn’t break her stride as the overeager teacher, who is excited by even the smallest change in her students’ behaviors. Her character learns that even if she can’t solve her students many problems, she can at least be there to listen to them, or read what they have written. The focus in this film is not so much on the individual students’ stories, as it is on the class as a whole, the school bureaucracy, and the extraordinary lengths Ms. Gruwell’s will go to.
Patrick Dempsey (TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”) co-stars as Swank’s husband, but he unfortunately has very little to do in the film, and is only a minor piece in the overall story. “Freedom Writers” may make you uncomfortable at times, as the viewer must see the harsh conditions the teens live in, but it never falls back into exploitation or gratuitous violence. Overall, the film gives an uplifting message that change is always possible, and having one person who cares can make all the difference in the world. Also, the parallels drawn by Ms. Gruwell, between her students’ plight and that of Anne Frank’s, which leads the class to learn about the Holocaust, makes for touching and edifying filmmaking.
4 out of 5