Freedom Writers Review

Freedom Writers is based on the true story of an idealistic, semi-naive teacher, Erin Gruwell, who obtains an English teaching position at a one-time prestigious high school in Los Angeles, but since the school adopted an "intergration" progam that buses in "undesirable" inner-city kids, the school has deterioted into chaos, replete with racism, self-segregation, gang violence, and hopeless teenagers who have fallen through the cracks of society.

Erin Gruwell, played by the lovely Hillary Swank, is given classroom 203, to "babysit" the troubled inner-city kids, without access to books or any other resources needed to properly educate students. Erin Gruwell makes huge sacrifices and utilizes unconventional methods to reach out to her troubled students. She struggles to unite her class by giving them a voice to tell their own stories through journaling.

The strength of this film lies in its committment to reality. The story line is based on the actual accounts recorded in the journals of classroom 203, which were published in 1999. Freedom Writers paints a compelling picture of the mindset harvested in young generations emmersed in the vicious cycle and tangled web of violence, drugs, poverty, racism, hatred, ignorance, and hopelessness. The film aims to tell the story of one brave woman who recognized the possibility of change, the pontential for peace, and the value of investing in the students the rest of the system had given up on. For that alone, it is worth watching.