Movie Review

Movie Review: Freedom Writers We are here! And we matter! With the help of their English teacher, the high school students, known as Freedom Writers, at Woodrow Wilson High set out to prove their significance in the world. In 2007, Paramount Picture studio released the drama Freedom Writers, directed by screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, and starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Patrick Dempsey, along with young unknowns in the student roles. The film portrays the real-life Erin Gruwell, a white teacher that fights an uphill battle to inspire trust, belief, and changes in her inner-city students. Instead of accepting their violent fate, her students struggle to break free from their vicious life cycle, open their minds to life’s possibilities, and dare to dream the impossibilities. As Woodrow Wilson High School’s bright-eyed and naive, new English teacher, Erin Gruwell is thrown into a strange, unbeknown world to her. She is faced with a classroom full of hostile students; on first sight, they hate her even more than they hated each other. In order to get their attention, Erin Gruwell introduces the students to the book, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, and give a blank journal to each student. Despite the difference in time and setting, the students paralleled Anne Frank’s plights to theirs. Everyday, the students write in their journals, sharing their innermost thoughts, their struggles, and their fears. For many students, the journals turn out to be their lifeboats; a safe oasis to help them escape their dark and turbulent world. Through sheer determination and love, Ms. Gruwell sets out to convince the students that they can succeed. The pivotal moment that changed the tide was when Erin Gruwell asked how many of her students have been shot at, or lost someone due to it, and ninety-nine percent of the students raised their hands. She realizes to reach them, she must look through their eyes in order to understand their world. In their everyday