Freedom Writers

This film brought a new perspective on the way that high school education and it's system is viewed. The teacher ventures into a community that has given up on their youth, and realizes the harsh lives that each of the students face. She then understands the reality of the gang violence and is willing to do anything to ensure that the students have hope for a future by instilling knowledge in them and giving them a safe place to express themselves. Based on a true story, this film inspires hope.

From the very beginning it is obvious this movie is something special. Excellent script, acting and story telling. Surprisingly good music. A tough subject to do well. Hilary Swank is excellent as the enthusiastic teacher in a tough inner city school. This is an inspiring story about a woman who wants to make a real difference in the children's lives and finds ways to reach them. Some very moving moments and it was inspiring to see how she encourages her students to learn and participate.

Seen a lot of films of this kind but this is particularly good.

Some sticky sweet liberal racism set to light hiphop music. Seriously, how is this not racist? A bunch of minority gang kids just need a single white person to show them that she cares and how to care for each other and that the Holocaust was bad and suddenly they all become perfect little angles? Get the fuck outta here. What a load of supremacist shit. Plus Matthew Perry was way sexier when he reached minority youths. I think it's Hilary Swank's mouth, I just want to hit it or something.

Cliche and manipulative, but hell I quite like it and it really suckers you in.

Hilary Swank has her "Dangerous Minds" outing, and this is all familiar territory, but she brings it home as well as the young actors to make for a small interesting history lesson.

Guilty pleasure. I teared up at some parts. Stirring.

Too cheesy for me

3 of 4 -- Entertainment. 1 of 2 -- Food For Thought. 2 of 2 -- Opens The Heart. 1 of 2 -- Sustainability Values.

Basically an even more self-important Stand and Deliver with some White Man's Burden bullshit thrown in for good measure, and a talking horse instead of Edward James Olmos.

Plot 11/20 Fiction 12/20 Casting/Acting 14/20 Worldbuilding 13/20 Entertainment 13/20

I don't know if I liked or hated it...

arghhhhh

At times it tries to hard to be the film with the powerful message while not delivering the powerful scenes. It simply just stayed in the middle where it used heavy handed dialogue to exploit the overall point it was trying to make. Films are supposed to be a balance of the two but this film was not that. Could have easily been a much better film.

Movies about teachers who change things are lost with me.

Ok this movie was better then I thought it would be. Patrick Dempsey did a great job sitting on a couch watching sports throughout the film. The film compared the gang violoence that the students faced to the Holocaust tragedy. Student poetry was good. Then it took a bad turn when it started showing the kids just dancing all the time in class to music. What the heck does that have to do with literature. It did make me want to read the actual book (not the dancing but the movie itself).

worth a watch

A bit boring, though not terrible.

Saw this years ago with an ex-girlfriend. I don't remember one thing about it except that Swank plays an inner-city-high-school-teacher-becoming-a-hero-for-troubled teens. And that I think I really didn't like it. Uh. Yeah. That's about it.

i'm just a sucker for that kind of "amazing teacher movie"

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It got me

Very good movie, easily recommended. What let it down was at times it felt they were trying too hard to pull on your heart strings. Cool it's based on a true story

Wholesome movie about race and all the hardships of growing up in a dangerous neighborhood. Great to see how this teacher was able to find common ground and a place for these kids to feel safe and free.

Feels more like a 90's societal commentary film along some of the era's greatest such as American History X, Good Will Hunting, etc. Food for thought of how we have the ability to uplift people from misery if we gave them a moment to be heard and feel genuinely seen. I love that this based on a true story. It gives much solace in today's climate of division and hopelessness. To know that we have people like Erin Gruwell among us.

LOVE IT. Peak recognized peak and when I found out it was closely based on a true story I cried even harder

Freedom Writers travels down a well-worn path already trod by such films as Dangerous Minds, Up the Down Staircase, Stand and Deliver and even Dead Poets Society. New-to-the-system teacher uses unconventional methods to transform a classroom full of "unteachables." This time it's set in a racially heated, gangbanging environment where students' main goal is to stay alive until their 18th birthday. (pluggedin.com)

I think most people will find it not very different from films like Stand and Deliver and Mr. Holland's Opus. Swank turns what is otherwise a formulaic (though true-to-life) story into something believable. However, I'm saying this because I'm a teacher. There are things she does here that convinced me and the two teachers I saw this with that she really understands what teachers go through. In this respect, it is slightly better than typical, the first teacher film I can say this about.

lol. not bad because you know it's cheese. not good though.

Interesting. Tearjerker. I like it.

Still had a white savior even though it was about the struggles of minorities.

I'd rather drop out of school and suffer on the streets

Awesome film... brings me back to days I spent with a teacher dear to my heart. For that, I can only give a rave review about this movie.

Although this is an overly rehashed storyline, this movie still makes you want to reach for the tissues as your heart warms up with good feelings.

muito bom!! vi esses meses atrás com a minha mãe... uma chorando em cada lado da sala nos sofás.....

Muy Buena

wish my teacher was like her ...

Cheesy as hell, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Erin Gruwell, ögretmen, okul, kötü sinif, ceteler, günlük, irkcilik, yahudi soykirimi (1995 yapimi Dangerous Minds filmiyle büyük benzerlik tasiyor. Karakter tahlillerine daha fazla yer verilmis ve yahudi soykirimi ile ilgili bilgiler verilmis. Ögretmen de daha fedakar. iyi bir seyirlik)

She really tries to reach these kids. I really tried to reach the remote.

This is too dumb for words.

I may be biased because I'm a teacher, but I really enjoyed this movie. I found it to be well acted, the story to have good pacing and characters that we are emotionally invested in. The only thing I didn't like was the open-mic style montage of the students' journals; the style contrasted drastically to everything else before and after this scene. Really, an inspiring movie, especially because it was based on a true story.

This movie has a lot of potential. But it is too cute and how it wraps everything up in a neat little package by the end. Hilary Swank does give a good performance. It was better than I was expecting it to be.

I don't care if I've seen the story before - a teacher who uses unconventional methods to reach the kids - it's based on reality and I enjoyed it very much. *Recommendable!

Would be inspiring if it were believable. The actual story is more moving than this weak adaptation.

"At once heartfelt, absorbing, and dopey." - Robert Keser