FREEDOM WRITERS

'''Freedom Writers''' is a 2007 American film starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton and Patrick Dempsey. It is based on the book ''The Freedom Writers Diary'' by teacher Erin Gruwell. The title is a play on the term "Freedom Riders", the black and white civil rights activists who tested the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961.

Contents

Plot

Box Office Gross

DVD/Rental Gross

Soundtrack

Rating

Cast

See also

External links

Plot

''Freedom Writers'', directed by Chris Dobell of KPSC 10G, is inspired by a true story and the diaries of real Long Beach, California teenagers after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, during the worst outbreak of interracial gang warfare. Set in and around Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California during the mid 1990s, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank stars as English teacher Erin Gruwell.
After a few days of class, Gruwell and her students get into a debate about racism during which she compares a caricature of a black student with big lips, drawn by another student, to the Nazis' caricatures of Jews with big noses. She then takes her students on a field trip to the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance to teach them about the Holocaust. An exterior view of the museum is shown, and there are scenes inside the museum, showing simulated entrances to gas chambers in Nazi death camps.
One of the books the students read is ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', and money is raised to have Miep Gies come over to talk about the Holocaust. The roles of four Holocaust survivors, some of whom survived Auschwitz, who met with the students in a dinner hosted by Gruwell, are played by the actual Holocaust survivors themselves.
Since the school is both incapable and unwilling to pay for books and excursions, Gruwell pays a lot of the expenses herself, financed by two extra, part-time, jobs (a sales for a bra store and a concierge at a Marriott hotel). Because of the little time she spends with her husband, he eventually divorces her.
Over the course of the movie, Gruwell finds more ways to teach her students about racism and respect. As Gruwell begins to listen to them in a way no adult or teacher has ever done, she begins to understand that these kids believe that surviving is enough — that they are not delinquents but teenagers fighting "a war of the streets" that began long before they were born. For the first time, the teens experience hope that they can show the world that their lives matter and that they have something to say.
Ms. G, as her students come to call Gruwell, hands out journals to her students so they can write about the past, present, future, good days and bad ones. Happily, she watches each student come to her desk and take one. Later on she sits down to read and is amazed at their stories and hardships. These students become freedom writers. Ms. G arranges for her students to type up their stories into a book they title, "The Freedom Writers Diary," and according to the end credits, this book was published in 1999 .

Box Office Gross

''Freedom Writers'' grossed $36.6 million dollars in the United States. In addition, the film made approximately $6 million USD worldwide.

DVD/Rental Gross

Released: 17th April 2007

★ The film will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Extras will include deleted scenes, a Making A Dream featurette, a Freedom Writers Family featurette, a Freedom Writers: The Story behind the Story featurette, a photo gallery, and the trailer. As of July 8, 2007, the film has grossed $26.5 million in DVD rentals.

Soundtrack

:''See also: Freedom Writers (soundtrack)
Common has lent his talents to the soundtrack with "A Dream" (featuring will.i.am). The song was produced by Black Eyed Peas founder will.i.am.
Instrumental sections of Sia's "Breathe Me" accompany the film's television trailer.
The soundtrack also includes the Tupac Shakur song "Keep Ya Head Up".

Rating

This film was given a final rating of PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for violent content, some thematic material, and language.

Cast

★ Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell

★ Patrick Dempsey as Scott Casey

★ Scott Glenn as Steve Gruwell

★ Imelda Staunton as Margaret Campbell

★ April L. Hernandez as Eva

★ Mario as Andre

★ Kristin Herrera as Gloria

★ Jason Finn as Marcus

★ Jaclyn Ngan as Sindy

★ Sergio Montalvo as Alejandro

★ Deance Wyatt as Jamal

★ Vanetta Smith as Brandy

★ Gabriel Chavarria as Tito

★ Hunter Parrish as Ben

★ Giovonnie Samuels as Victoria

★ John Benjamin Hickey as Brian Gelford

★ Robert Wisdom as Dr. Carl Cohn

★ Pat Carroll as Miep Gies

See also

★ ''One Eight Seven''

★ ''Dangerous Minds''

★ ''The Diary of Anne Frank''

★ ''Stand and Deliver''

External links

★ Freedom Writers - Official Website

★

★ Freedom Writers Production Notes

★ Freedom Writers - Real Story vs. the Movie

★ eFilmCritic.com interview with educator Erin Gruwell and real-life Freedom Writer Maria Reyes on "Freedom Writers"

★ 69% "Fresh" rating at ''Rotten Tomatoes''

★ CelebrityWonder.com - ''Freedom Writers'' Trailers And Reviews

★ 'Cinematical' interview with Erin Gruwell, Jason Finn, and Maria Reyes

★ New York Times review of film

★ Learning for a Cause, a Canadian educational organization of similar nature. Learning for a Cause has published a number of books written collectively in the classroom.