Freedom Writers - PG-13
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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that, thanks to its hip-hop soundtrack and rebellious teen characters, this drama about high school students will appeal to many kids. It deals with some mature themes -- gang violence, loss of a friend or family member, the Holocaust -- in tasteful, if formulaic, ways. Violent scenes include fighting on campus and a street shooting (a boy is killed, his bloody chest visible). Kids argue with each other and their teacher, disrespecting her verbally and laughing at her. Students discuss the Holocaust, Anne Frank, and meet a survivor who describes her ordeal. Students write about their losses in their journals, which the teacher reads out loud or in voiceover (these are sad moments). Language includes several uses of "s--t," "damn," and one use of the n-word in anger (the context is a student journal description of police abuses).
Families can discuss the way that Erin engages her students -- by listening to them. How is this an effective way to teach? How do the students learn from one other when they share their stories? How is the Holocaust a helpful historical example for these "at-risk" students? What do they learn from Anne Frank's ability to see beauty in the world even in her bleak situation? How does Erin's dedication to her students affect her personal life? What other movies is this one similar to? What sets it apart?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
The deeply earnest drama FREEDOM WRITERS follows a familiar storyline. An idealistic young teacher inspires her "at-risk" urban students to respect each other and themselves. She's white, they're mostly of color; she's clueless about their harsh lives, they initially resent her cluelessness but learn to appreciate her efforts to understand them.
It's this last part that makes director Richard LaGravenese's film work, despite its many clichés. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) makes a difference by asking her students to talk to her and each other -- and acting on what they say.
Arriving at a high school in Long Beach just after the L.A. uprising in 1992, Erin is enthusiastic and innocent, asserting that "I'm a really good student." She wants to follow in her father Steve's (Scott Glenn) footsteps. A civil rights activist during the '60s, he once advocated for the Black Panthers' education and economic programs, but now worries that his daughter is teaching students who "don't want to learn" -- concern shared by Erin's husband, Scott (Patrick Dempsey).
Erin's first few days at school are daunting: She witnesses a fight, sees a boy pull out a gun, and endures taunts from her students, who see themselves as their other teachers see them: the "ghetto-ass class" unworthy of attention or time. Erin is also discouraged by her cynical colleagues, especially department head Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton), who goes so far as to suggest that Erin shouldn't provide the students with books because they'll only lose or damage them.
Bolstered rather than put off by such difficulties, Erin persists, seeking ways to connect with her students. Finally, one of them -- distrustful Eva (April Lee Hernandez) -- explains her rage: "White people running this world," she says. "I saw white cops shoot my friend in the back for reaching into his pocket. They can because they're white. I hate white people on sight." Erin realizes that since her students self-segregate by race, they never learn one another's stories. In a corny but exceptionally moving scene, she has them stand together in the classroom when they've shared an experience, like losing a friend to violence. They begin to recognize their similarities.
As the students begin to write in journals about their lives in a "war zone," Erin also has them visit L.A.'s Holocaust museum and read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Erin calls the Nazis "the most famous gang in history"). Moved by Frank's story, the kids raise money to bring Miep Gies (Pat Carroll), the woman who hid Frank from the Nazis, to campus.
The plot is predicable, the actors too old to play high school students, and the pacing too slow. And really, the camera circles around deep-thinking faces a few too many times. But Freedom Writers also argues for listening to teenagers. That in itself makes it a rare and close-to-wonderful thing.
If you're interested in the facts behind the story, check out the Erin Gruwell Education Project, which offers information on ongoing work by Gruwell's foundation, or read the book (The Freedom Writers Diary). Fans might also enjoy an abundance of similarly themed films, including Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me, and Coach Carter.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentAllusions to teen pregnancy; some kissing between high school couples; girls in tight outfits; some kissing between a married couple. |
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ViolenceRepeated verbal and visual references to street/gun violence (the film opens with clips from the Rodney King tape, riots in Los Angeles, and reports on murders in Long Beach); brief but jolting fight between students (one pulls a gun); security/metal detectors at school; a shooting leaves one boy with a bloody bullet wound in chest (explicit and upsetting); discussions about losing friends to shootings, as well as historical systems of oppression (specifically, the Holocaust); descriptions of Holocaust violence; girl appears with bruises as she describes her hard life. |
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LanguageSome profanity, including one use of "f--k" and multiple uses of "ass" (and "dumbass"), "s--t," and "damn." One student's journal entry (read out loud) uses the n-word; single uses of "bitch" and "balls." Reference to "sex, drugs, cursing, and fornication in black literature." |
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Social BehaviorHigh school students disrespect their teacher until she earns their admiration; she is utterly noble and motivated only to help them succeed. A student's drawing shows another student with exaggerated, racist features (big lips and nose). |
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CommercialismBrief references to Cops, Homer Simpson, Tupac Shakur, Marriot hotel, Borders Books. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoErin and Scott drink wine several times; she gets drunk after an emotional upheaval. Class toasts "for change." |
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