The : Freedom Writers - Movie Review Example

Freedom Sometimes film can make a tremendous difference in the way people understand the worldor approach problems. This is most often seen in the case of documentaries in which people are introduced to different cultures and forms of life or in biographies where people learn how others have successfully navigated some of life’s more challenging problems. However, in recent years, the concept of the documentary has more fully integrated with the concept of entertainment to create engaging films that present real-life solutions.

One such film is the movie Freedom Writers, in which the real-life story of Erin Gruwell and her inspirational teaching efforts in Long Beach, California is dramatized and somewhat fictionalized so as to convey the transformational effects of her approach to teaching inner city kids. The film starts out with images from the 1992 Los Angeles riots, thus establishing the run-down and desperate living conditions of the kids who comprise the student body of Woodrow Wilson High School. Camera shots always work to emphasize the dirty streets, the low quality living quarters of the various students, the sense of danger and violence that stalks them wherever they go.

There are many examples of this violence and desperation, such as the drive-by shooting at the convenience store committed by one kid from the high school that kills another kid from the high school in front of two girls from the high school. One of these girls is expected to testify in court as to who was guilty of the murder, but the problem is that he was of her same race. She and the killer were Hispanic and the murdered boy was Asian. It was expected in the street that you protected your own kind and so this girl has to struggle with her decision through a good deal of the film.

Although she is friends with the girlfriend of the murdered boy and she knows it is only right that people should be punished for violent crimes, she must also fear for her own safety and the safety of her family as they must continue living in the same streets. This very valid concern is emphasized as she is even confronted in a very threatening manner by other kids from the high school warning her that she better do what is expected. The main action of the film follows the efforts of a young teacher, Erin Gruwell, who is excited to make a change in the world.

Having grown up in the world of privilege in Newport Beach, Gruwell is recently married and recently graduated and sure she can bring positive change to the inner city. However, instead of finding eager students just waiting for the chance to find a better future, she finds herself teaching students who are unofficially considered the ‘unteachables.’ From her first day at school, she discovers that there are some kids who only attend class if they are forced to stay inside by security guards and that all of the students instantly and almost instinctively separate themselves within the classroom along racial lines.

This extreme racism among neighbors and classmates distresses Gruwell as does the students’ complete sense of defeatism, but she cannot blame the students. Even the school administration feels they are not suited for anything than menial laborers and should simply be taught how to be obedient to their betters and to be responsible enough to carry out their basic job functions. Almost by accident and as the result of an almost automatic response to a racist drawing she discovers in her class, Gruwell begins teaching her students about the Holocaust and encourages them to keep diaries like that kept by Anne Frank.

Through the journals, the students begin to let Gruwell know about the many very serious and confusing issues they have to confront on a daily basis and she becomes more committed to helping them to a better future. As the kids get more and more interested in what happened during World War II, they also become more involved in making things work for them as they work to raise money to bring Miep Gies (the woman who hid Anne Frank) to their school to talk to them. The kids learn about the Holocaust, they learned that they weren’t the only people that had to deal with extreme persecution and they discovered they could make positive things happen.

The conclusion of the film is very moving and inspiring as it really emphasizes the effects a teacher who cares can make and how effective Gruwell’s approach really was. From being ‘unteachables’, Gruwell was able to bring many of her students to graduation and even college. From listening to Miep Gies deny being a hero by saying she was only doing what was right, the girl who witnessed the murder decided to do the right thing and stand to stop violence. With their degrees and their confidence that they can bring about change, these students are now beginning to follow in Gruwell’s footsteps to make positive changes in the inner cities in their own unique ways.