Freedom Writers

Anytime a movie makes you cry you have to decide if the movie was good or if something about it just affected you in some way, but for me, with a movie like Freedom Writers, I know it was very good and very much affected me. Wanting to be a teacher, it is great to see something like this on film. So often, we see the negative side of teenagers. The news only wants to show the sex, drugs and violence connected to teenagers and yet, the teacher in this movie looked through all of that and saw something real with her kids and I hope that I can be that same way when I eventually reach that goal. So, knowing that beware I watch this movie with a sort of biased eye and opinion. Hilary Swank stars as a fresh out of college, highly optimistic first years teacher excited to teach at a public high school in long beach. She is teaching a freshman English class and quickly learns no one expects anything from these kids, including the kids themselves. Everyone tells her just to baby sit them, her father tells her to quit and even her husband grows tired of her job, yet she keeps fighting. She fights for her kids, she fights against a screwed up system, fights against history and fights against a culture that seems hell bent on killing every young person in its path.


I have never been sold on Hilary Swank before, even with her two Academy Awards, but here I have finally conceded that she is incredible. She transitions from wide eyed optimism to hardcore determined effortlessly and conveys just the right amount of tenderness without ever coming across with pity. She reacts well with her class of misfits and each of the teens does a good job of both conveying a single character as well as an ideal of a group of characters. It would have been very easy to portray all of these kids as essentially the same, but they gave us a chance to see a side of almost every student. There are many scenes that brought tears to my eyes, but there were 3 times when I was all out weeping because it was just that touching. Movies like this often walk that fine line of being too manufactured and cheesy, but this one always manages to stay real. I am not sure how it works, but it works. Through this entire movie you see Swank’s passion and concern in her eyes. You come to understand why a woman would work 3 jobs to buy her students books out of her own pocket and why she constantly battles the administration in hopes that change can be made.


So often people give up on the youth and decide it just isn’t worth it and this is one of those movies that show teenagers want to be challenged. They want someone to care about them and their lives. I know I risk soapboxing here because this movie hit a passion and stuck a nerve of mine, but to know that things like this can happen fill me with hope and optimism in a time where I often have neither. To see a bunch of teenagers get passionate about The Diary of Anne Frank, or find their voice through the art of writing just makes me feel good inside. I do not know if everyone will like this movie, but I would hope they do. I would hope people can put aside the usual cynicism and just admire a woman for her desire and 30 or so students overcoming death, jail, beatings, drugs and indifference from adults to make something of themselves.