Freedom Writers is a 2007 drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton and Patrick Dempsey.
It is based on The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell teacher who wrote stories based on Woodrow Wilson's Classic High School in Long Beach, California. The film is also based on a DC program called City at Peace. The title is a play on "Freedom Riders", referring to multiracial civil rights activists who tested a US Supreme Court ruling that ordered intercity bus desegregation in 1961.
The idea for the film comes from journalist Tracey Durning, who made a documentary about Erin Gruwell for ABC News PrimeTime Live. Durning serves as a co-executive film producer. The film is dedicated to the memory of Armand Jones, who was killed after closing Freedom Writers . He was 18 years old and shot dead in Anaheim, California after a confrontation with a man who robbed Jones's necklace at a Denny's restaurant.
Video Freedom Writers
Plot
In 1994, in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) was accepted to teach English for risky students at Woodrow Wilson High School, a highly acclaimed school, but racial tensions have increased since the 1992 Los Angeles Riot Erin struggled to connected with his students and he experienced many fights between several students, who were in competing gangs.
One night, Eva Benitez (April L. Hernandez), her boyfriend, and a friend went to the supermarket. Sindy (Jaclyn Ngan), a Cambodian refugee, often visits the same store. Grant Rice (Armand Jones), an African-American student at Woodrow Wilson, was frustrated at losing an arcade game, demanding a refund from the shopkeeper. When Grant comes out of the shop, Eva's girlfriend Paco (in retaliation for losing to Grant who happened earlier during a gang fights at Woodrow Wilson), attempted to shoot to kill Grant, but failed to kill Sindy's boyfriend by mistake. As a witness, Eva must testify in court; he intended to keep "his" in his testimony.
At school, Gruwell cuts off a racist image by one of his high school students and uses it to teach them about the Holocaust, most of whom have no knowledge of it. He gradually began to gain their trust and bought composition books to record their diaries, where they talked about their abused experiences, saw their friends die, and was evicted. Determined to reform his high school students, Gruwell took two part-time jobs to pay for more books and spend more time at school, much to the disappointment of her husband (Patrick Dempsey). His students began to behave with respect and find more. Transformation is specifically seen in one student, Marcus (Jason Finn). Gruwell invited various surviving Jewish Holocaust to talk to his class about their experiences and ask the students to attend field visits to the Museum of Tolerance. Meanwhile, his unique training method is ridiculed by his colleagues and department chairman Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton).
The next school year came, and Gruwell taught his class (now female) again, making it his second year that he was their teacher. On the first day of the semester, Gruwell makes his class do "Toast for Change", allowing everyone to open up about their struggles and what they want to change about themselves. Later, the class made enough money to make Miep Gies come to the United States and recount his experiences when he helped Anne Frank, his family, and Van Pels hide from the Nazis; he then also persuades the students that they are heroes and that they "in their own small way, [can] light a small lamp in a dark room." Both of these events inspired Eva to free herself from her father's demands to always protect herself rather than telling the truth. In Grant's court, he shook the courtroom by revealing that Paco actually killed Sindy's girlfriend at the store; Grant is spared from the convict and Sindy then forgives Eva. On leaving the court, Eva is attacked and threatened but eventually rescued by her gang member and eventually will stay with her aunt to keep herself safe.
Meanwhile, Gruwell asked his students to write their diaries in book form. He collected an entry and named it The Freedom Writers Diary . Her husband divorced her and Margaret told her that she could not teach her children for their first year. Gruwell championed this decision, finally convincing the inspector to allow him to teach their children in junior and senior years, much to their delight. The film concludes with the notes that Gruwell has succeeded in preparing many high school students for high school graduation and attending college, for many of the first people in their family to do so.
Maps Freedom Writers
Cast
- Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell
- Patrick Dempsey as Scott Casey
- Scott Glenn as Steve Gruwell, Erin's Dad
- Imelda Staunton as Margaret Campbell
- John Benjamin Hickey as Brian Gelford
- April Lee HernÃÆ'¡ndez as Eva Benitez
- Mario as Andre Bryant
- Jason Finn as Marcus
- Cuba Gooding Jr. as Man in Cab # 2
- Vanetta Smith as Brandy Ross
- Antonio Garcia as Miguel
- Jaclyn Ngan as Sindy Ngor
- Kristin Herrera as Gloria Munez
- Gabriel Chavarria as Tito
- Hunter Parrish as Ben Samuels
- Giovonnie Samuels as Victoria
- Deance Wyatt as Jamal Hill
- Sergio Montalvo as Alejandro Santiago
- Robert Wisdom as Dr. Carl Cohn
- Will Morales be Paco
- Ricardo Moline as Eva's Dad
- Angela Alvarado as Ms. Eva
- Angela Sargeant as Mother Marcus
- Pat Carroll as Miep Gies
- Chil Kong as Store Owner
- Armand Jones as Grant Rice
Release
Freedom Writers has a domestic gross of $ 36,605,602 and has an overseas gross of $ 6,485,139 which brings the film to a gross total of $ 43,090,741 worldwide. At the opening weekend the film grossed a total of $ 9405,582 ranked the 4th behind Boys Boy (3), The Pursuit of Happyness (2nd), and Night at the Museum (1).
Reception
Freedom Writers have received most of the positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes review review web site provides links to 124 reviews, 70% of which are positive. The critical consensus is that " Freedom Writers is an honest entry and planned in the teacher's genre of inspirational centers, with energetic Hilary Swank leading the unknown players." Another review gatherer, Metacritic, who scored a weighted average of 100 reviews from major critics, calculated an average score of 64/100 based on 29 reviews, showing "favorable general reviews". Cynthia Fuchs of the Common Sense Media gave the film three out of five stars, writing in his review that "the plot is predictable, the actors are too old to play high school students, and the tempo is too slow, and really, the camera circle around far away - thinks several times too much, but Freedom Writers also thinks to listen to the teenagers.This alone makes it a rare and close-to-beautiful thing. "The film received a positive rating from Fox Weekly , giving movies 9 out of 10.
ChloÃÆ'Â © Valdary says that seeing the movie inspires him to become politically active.
Soundtrack
General lends his talent to the soundtrack with "A Dream", featured and produced by members of The Black Eyed Peas will.i.am. This soundtrack also includes the song Tupac Shakur "Keep Ya Head Up".
The instrumental part of Sia's "Breathe Me" accompanies the movie movie trailer.
The Freedom Writers soundtrack contains the following songs:
- "A Dream" by Public displays will.i.am
- "Listen !!!" by Talib Kweli
- "This R Time" by Jeannie Ortega
- "When the Ship Goes Down" by Cypress Hill
- "Hip Hop Hooray" by Naughty by Nature
- "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2Pac
- "Street Code" by Gang Starr
- "Slick (Cool Like Dat) rebirth" by Digable Planets
- "Officer" by Pharcyde
- "It's How We Do It" by Montell Jordan
- "Color" by will.i.am
- "Bus Ride" by will.i.am
- "Riot" by will.i.am
- "Eva's Theme" by Mark Isham
- "Anne Frank" by Mark Isham
Also see
- White Rescue narrative in the movie
Reference
External links
- Official website
- Freedom Writer on IMDb
- Freedom Writer at AllMovie
- Freedom Writer in Box Office Mojo
- Freedom Writer at Rotten Tomatoes
- Freedom Writer at Metacritic
- Freedom Writer Production Notes
- eFilmCritic.com interviews with educator Erin Gruwell and Real Life Freedom writer, Maria Reyes about the "Freedom Writer"
- 'Cinematical' interview with Erin Gruwell, Jason Finn, and Maria Reyes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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