Freedom Writers

by: jeanne fourie

A cliché plot, ‘elderly’ fourteen year-olds, and an average performance from its leading lady are the highlights of this mediocre do-gooder drama. Written and directed by Richard Lavagrenese and starring Hollywood heavy-weight Hilary Swank, this 2007 heart-clutcher aimed to raise awareness to inner-city kid issues through the kindness of their ‘different’ teacher with unusual methods. But in reality the final product is a bland, over-acted film that adds nothing to the concept of forgiveness and awareness.

“Based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell and students who compiled the book out of real diary entries about their lives that they wrote in their English class at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. The movie is also based on the DC program called City at Peace. The title of the movie and book is a play on the term "Freedom Riders", referring to the multiracial civil rights activists who tested the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961.” (“Freedom Writers”, para. 1). An energetic and eager Hilary Swank leads the cast as a new teacher wanting to make a difference but finds her class, actors well into their twenties posing as freshman school students, a challenge as they argue and assert their violent lifestyles over her. It is not until she challenges them to write their own stories and begins teaching them of the horrors of the Holocaust that the students open up to her and question their lifestyles as gangsters and vandals. Thus reinforcing that change comes from someone who seeks to inspire.

Whilst not particularly a bad film, it fails to add new depth or content to the genre, falling back on cliché and dramatic dialogue. The film harbours a multitude of underwritten characters such as the lead’s husband, played by Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey, who adds nothing to the film except bland attempts to deter his wife from interacting with troubled ethnic youths.

In the film’s defence, strong messages of tolerance and acceptance are at its forefront. However, these messages get lost in the film’s narrative, as if it can’t decide what aspect or character to focus on.

With camera angles focusing just a tad too much on violent aspects of the film and the female form, there isn’t anything remarkable about this film other than Hilary Swank giving the audience an impression of a cheerleader on Speed.

Rating: 2/10

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