Freedom Writers is a 2007 movie based on the book, The Freedom Writers Diary. It is about a new integration program that puts students of all backgrounds and races in classes together. Erin Gruwell, a new teacher, attempts to teach the low rated students in the school. She makes a difference by bringing the students together. When I first saw the movie, I thought it would have been scary because of the situations that occurred. In the beginning of the film, it starts with clips from the Los Angeles Riots. My initial reaction was that the movie was going to talk about the situations that involved that. The students Gruwell receives are given the nickname “the unteachables”. They must be forced into class by security guards and are segregated into racial groups in the classroom. The tension is apparent every time students from one race look at those from another. Not only does she meet opposition from her students, she also has a hard time with her department head, who believes she should focus less on teaching her students to learn and read, and more on teaching them discipline and obedience.
I thought that Mrs. Gruwell was not going to be able to teach them because they were vulgar, insolent, and they could not get along with the people of the other races. If their territories were crossed, the person who crossed them would have to suffer cruel consequences from the other race. After the tragedies that took place, Mrs. Gruwell had to find a way to address the student’s issues. She thought that giving them The Diary of Anne Frank to read would help the students identify the same issues that Anne Frank had to face. In the book, Frank copes with her situations by writing. Gruwell thought that was a good idea for her students to apply. They began writing anonymous journal entries about the adversities that we faced in their every day lives. They wrote about gangs, immigration, drugs, violence, abuse, death, anorexia, dyslexia, teenage love, weight issues, divorce, suicide, and all the other issues they never had the chance to express before. It shows that in Room 203 was the place where the students could be themselves, cry, and laugh without being judged.
My first instant reaction to the scene when character Marcus Jefferson told Erin Gruwell that the students were in a war and they were not afraid to die, was that the war between the races occurred way before their time. This film received incredible reviews. Critics were stating that this movie was the real meaning of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Bibliography
Synopsis. 2006. 3 April 2009 http://www.freedomwriters.com/.
Writers, The Freedom. About The Freedom Writers. 2006. 3 April 2009
