freedom writers

Freedom Writers, a film directed by Richard LaGravenese, is about a middle class woman, Erin Gruwell, who takes a job teaching in Long Beach, CA. She receives a class of very different people, with different nationalities, who share the same fight. She achieved helping with disadvantaged students, when no one else thought that they would amount up to anything. As the film progresses you see how the student’s lives change and how they turned into well thought of adults, thanks to the impact of their dedicated teacher Ms. Gruwell,

At the beginning of the film, Erin Gruwell is introduced as being quite an excited, naïve teacher, eager to start at Wilson High. In the beginning she is also introduced as being quite a positive character.
“I believe the real fighting starts in the classroom.”
This dialogue is showing her optimism in her teaching and within students. From this quote can also perceive that she is going to be willing to try and change the students for the better. From an audience’s point of view, having watched the film, you understand that she doesn’t anticipate what she is about to face in the classroom.
The audience soon sees some of Erin’s hopefulness fading away as she looks into the distinguished honors class and then into her class, room 203. There is a close up of her smile slowly diminishing as she walks into her classroom. That shot emphasises her change in expression when she realises that it is not quite up to the standards of the distinguished honors class. Her hopefulness may have faded a bit, but it still seems like she wanted to make a good first impression on her new students. This is shown when she rubs out part of her name on the board and then rewrites it, smudging the chalk on the back of her skirt which displays a comical side to the film.

I think that she comprehends the difficulty of her job when Andre and Jamal have a fight at the beginning of her first class. You can see her face tense as she looks quite overwhelmed