g-bodyl Freedom Writers is a great inside look at the struggle kids had to face in the aftermath of Rodney King and the race riots. In the early 90's, these kids grew up on gang violence and racism and everyone had their own group such as blacks, whites, Cambodians, Mexicans, and so on. This film is an emotional take on the tale of reform against the odds. By the end of the film, no matter your masculinity, you won't have a dry eye. Whilst the outcome may or may not be predictable, it's the way the battle is fought that truly defines this underrated drama.Richard LaGravanese's film is about a first-year white teacher named Erin Gruwell who is appalled at the lack of education her students receive. Despite receiving backlash from everyone in her life such as her father, her husband, and her boss, Gruwell decides to make an education a priority for her students. While not well-received at first, noticeable changes are soon to come.Hilary Swank comes really close to beating her best performance to date which is her role in 2004's Million Dollar Baby. Swank possesses the determination to make her role work and through her character, we can see the importance of equal education to everyone. I liked April Lee Hernandez as Eva, one of Erin's students. She is so determined to hold her ground and survive. Imelda Staunton is good at playing the bad guy, though we can sort of sympathize with her character's plight.Overall, Freedom Writers is a great movie that has a main theme in that everyone deserves an equal education. It's formulaic in parts, but nothing a strong, well-written script cannot fix. I like how they incorporate the themes of the Holocaust in the film because it's similar to what these teens face. The Diary of Anne Frank is an excellent memoir and it is the perfect book for the film to use. This movie defines survival and how these teens fight their own wars in the streets. But the simple message is: education is survival. I rate this film 9/10.

Johan Dondokambey The move offers a dramatization of a modern true story which is an important one yet often underrated. It's an important issue because education should never be limited by anything, even by the targets saying that they don't want to receive them. I really like significant references to other strong true stories especially about the holocaust. The montage used in this movie is a bit too much for me. It should've used more duration instead and build more on the detailed stories of more individuals of the class. I like how Hillary Swank is able to keep her usual aura of sanguine and cheerful character onto her role here, even on the sadder scenes. Scott Glenn adds the nice ingredient in giving this movie some more familiar faces to appreciate.

Marcus Willis Freedom Writers is definitely my favorite because it shows the life of a young teacher, named Erin Gruwell who leaves the safety of her hometown in order to teach at a school that's in a bad neighborhood. The school is known for gang fights, segregation, and high students drop out rate. The teacher wants to help the students out, but the students are rebellious. Erin has problems with the head board because she wants books for the students so they can learn and read them in class but they want her to focus on obedience and disciplining them. She tries to teach the students a lesson by stopping racist remarks in class. She begins to earn their trust and buys them composition books to record their diaries, in which they talk about their experiences of being abused, raped, seeing friends die and being evicted. She gets a second job because she is paying for the books and extracurricular activities for the class and that's hindering her marriage as well because she is spending more time with the students and not her husband. Erin gains their trust and ends up getting the same students for another year. Eventually, she has them read the "Diary of Anne Frank" and the students decide to raise money and fly Miep Gies who sheltered Anne Frank in the Holocaust. This changed the students because she was a Hero but Miep tell them that she was just doing the right thing and one of the students names Eva realize she is not doing the right thing because she want testify against her boyfriend because he killed an innocent man. When Eva does break down and tell the truth, she gets attacked by members of her gang because she told and has to leave to stay with her Aunt. Erin gets all the journal entries and names it The Freedom Writers Diary. The film ends with Gruwell successfully prepared numerous high school students to graduate high school and attend college, for many the first in their families to do so. Freedom Writers had a domestic gross of $36,605,602 and had a foreign gross of $6,485,139 bringing the movie to a total gross of $43,090,741 worldwide. On the film's opening weekend it grossed a total of $9,405,582. 69% of the reviews were positive.

kpangilinan Watching Richard LaGravenese's Biographical film Freedom Writers gives an important message of camaraderie, social justice, and racial tolerance. Academy Award winning Hilary Swank plays as Mrs. Erin Gruwell, a young teacher who strives to inspire her students to learn tolerance and succeed in finishing high school. The movie takes place in Long Beach, California in 1994 where an integration program was created giving student minorities around the area for a better high school education with higher qualifying teachers than other areas would provide.The integration program has stirred the dynamics in Woodrow Wilson High School leaving teachers petrified of their lives and students fighting for their own. A community filled with hatred towards other ethnicities only to protect their "own kind," comes together in one class room inspired by a teacher who willingly listen to their stories. The students of Woodrow Wilson High School are in a never ending war, living day by day, not knowing what the future holds for them. Teacher Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) enlightens her students with history that relates to their stories. Teaching them the story of the Holocaust and how many lives were taken due to racial intolerance. As an assignment, the students had to write in their journals and express their story, why they live the way they live and why they make certain decisions Erin Gruwell emphasizes in order to receive respect, you got to give respect. In the lives of her students, all they want is respect from society. By being the alpha female or male of their clan by gaining control and power of the community, they believe they will gain respect. Through this they beat up recruits for gang crews, kill other people that is not their race, and create riots in campuses. Erin Gruwell herself goes through her own struggles when it comes to monetary issues while passionately working in a field that requires a lot to keep the interest of her students. Erin and her students go through an enlightening journey of learning from each other on racial tolerance, education, and respect. Hillary Swank in the role of Erin Gruwell acted very well in a way where people can really absorb the things she says as she teaches her students. Her words of wisdom that really touch the hearts of these kids helped them not only stay away from trouble on the streets but also giving themselves the respect to continue on with high school. These students have a purpose to go to school because none of the other teacher cared to pay attention to their stories or the wars they fight every day. What's very interesting in this movie, is the gender roles. The girls in this film are portrayed very strong in which they must protect their own, while the guys are all trying to avoid being caught up in a situation that would lead them to jail or death. One of the guys is homeless and after learning the importance of family and school, he decides to swallow his pride and come back home to his mother. My overall reaction of the film was 9 out of 10 because it was well developed and kept the stories realistic. For most people, they expect a happy ending for all these students, however, life does not really work that way. Many people take different paths. Some may make good decisions, others may make bad decisions. The shots were really good in following the tension between different racial groups knowing the segregation in Woodrow Wilson High School. I recommend this film to everyone, although most people can't relate to how these students live their lives, I believe everyone has their own battle and struggle in life. Overall, this was a great film that showed great strength from a female perspective (especially from the protagonist, Erin Gruwell) and educating on how these students fought their wars in life and will continue to fight until they obtain their highest achievement.