Freedom Writers

In FREEDOM WRITERS, enthusiastic and innocent teacher Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) arrives at a high school in Long Beach just after the L.A. uprising in 1992, aiming to follow in her civil rights activist father's footsteps. 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 but she 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. So, 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 write 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. 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.