THEIR STORY. THEIR WORLD. THEIR FUTURE.
Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), a fresh and idealistic English teacher, takes on a problem class in Long Beach right after the 1992 L.A. riots put racial divides on brutal display. A movie based on the diary of a real-life school class that started writing about their hard-knock lives, thanks to their teacher, and the lessons they learned in her class. Believable, poignant and moving, well directed and very good performances all around… but there are so many other dramas like this that one can’t help but wonder if the story about the Freedom Writers hadn’t been better served by a documentary instead.
2007-U.S. 123 min. Color. Written and directed by Richard LaGravenese. Book: Erin Gruwell, Freedom Writers. Cast: Hilary Swank (Erin Gruwell), Patrick Dempsey (Scott Casey), Scott Glenn (Steve Gruwell), Imelda Staunton, April Lee Hernandez, Deance Wyatt.
Trivia: Co-executive produced by Swank; co-produced by Danny DeVito. Four real-life Holocaust survivors appear as themselves.
