By Allen Zheng
English Review: Freedom Writers (2006)
The movie Freedom Writers is an inspiring true story, in this inner-city teacher genre. Based on the book ‘The freedom Writers Diary’, it has been directed by Richard LaGravenese.
The film follows the lives of troubled teenagers disillusioned by their environment as well as that of their determined and optimistic teacher. In the place of Woodrow Wilson High School, it sees its students being separated into different groups of Cambodians, Africans, Americans, Latinos and Whites. Not only are these groups cautious of each other but they also form part of violent gangs. Between these groups enters Erin Gruwell (played by Hilary Swank), an enthusiastic young teacher who finds herself at the other end of trust of both her students as well as her colleagues. Undisturbed by the stiffness of the students, Gruwell gradually and confidently begins to teach them. She starts by making them see how similar they are and how each other’s story is almost the same. She does this by mainly using unconventional and ‘disliked by staff’ approaches. At one point, she brings a lot of journal books and asks her students to write whatever they want in it for e.g. their experiences, their struggles or their dreams, but they had to write every day. The embarrassment of the students is slowly discarded away and they start to trust and respect their teacher ‘Ms G’. They also treat class 203 as their home.