An uplifting true story (Freedom Writers (DVD))

Member Name: Great_reviewer07

Product:	Freedom Writers (DVD)
Date:	15/01/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A story about not giving up which anyone can relate to

Disadvantages: A bit slow to get going at first

Freedom Writers is the uplifting true story about a determined young teacher played by Oscar winner Hilary Swank. She plays Erin Gruwell, a teacher who starts at a school which is known as the worst school in the area. To top it all off she is given the worst class, a lot of teachers had tried & failed to keep the students under control & they had got themselves the label of 'unteachable'.

However this doesn't put Erin off, she starts off teaching the usual things like Shakespeare & quickly notices that the kids in the class don't care what she's saying & are only at school because they have to be. This keeps going for a couple of weeks before someone draws an offensive picture, this is when Erin decides to change her approach to the young people & instead of teaching them Shakespeare she chooses the best thing for them is to learn life lessons. She starts off by clearing the tables & telling them to step on a line in the middle if they have ever lost a friend to gun violence & have ever been involved with gangs. When 98% of the class stands forward they start to realise that besides being associated with different gangs they're really not all that different.

Erin comes up with lots of inventive ways of getting the students to interact with one another & even takes on 2 other jobs so she can afford to buy them brand new books to work with.

Erin's dedication to her class does it it's toll on her though, namely her marriage to Scott played by Patrick Dempsey. Even though things get tough for her she perseveres with her class because she knows there's good in all of them, even if they don't think so themselves.

I loved watching this film, it starts off a bit slow at the beginning but within 20 minutes it's hit its stride & becomes very entertaining. Hilary Swank is great at playing the teacher who doesn't give up no matter what. The students acting is also great. This is such an uplifting film which doesn't fail to give you hope about things in your life as well.

Summary: A very entertaining film with great performances all round.