Freedom Writers

Written and directed by Richard LaGravenese (Beloved, The Horse Whisperer, The Bridges of Madison County, The Princess, The Fisher King) and based on the book of the same name, Freedom Writers is the latest in a long line of inspirational, “based on a true story” film about a teacher, usually of the Caucasian persuasion, heroically venturing into an inner city high school rife with violence and despair, overcoming both, knocking down obstacles (usually well-meaning, if wrong-headed, bureaucrats), and imparting a love of learning and hope for a better future to his or her disadvantaged charges.

Long Beach, California, 1994. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), a first-time teacher, arrives at Wilson High School. Given at-risk students from warring ethnic groups, Erin is told to keep her new students under control, bide her time, gain some seniority, and eventually move on to teaching the smarter, more motivated students in the junior and senior classes. Erin, though, is an idealist. She came to Wilson High School specifically to teach and inspire those at-risk students no one else wants to teach. With a semi-supportive husband, Scott Casey (Patrick Dempsey), an unsupportive father, Steve (Scott Glenn), and a cynical high school administrator, Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton), Erin already has a lot to overcome and that’s even before she steps into the classroom.

At first, Erin can’t break through to her students. Split off into different ethnic groups and gangs, they barely tolerate each other, let alone have any interest in learning. With her students at fifth-grade reading levels, Erin’s by-the-book teaching methods don’t work, despite her enthusiasm. Her more recalcitrant students include Eva (April Lee Hernandez), a Latina gangbanger with a father in prison, Marcus (Jason Finn) and Andre (Mario), African-American gangbangers, Gloria (Kristin Herrera), another Latina, Sindy (Jacklyn Ngan), a surly Cambodian, and others as well, including Alejandro (Sergio Montalvo), Jamal (Deance Wyatt), Brandy (Vanetta Smith), Tito (Gabriel Chavarria), Ben (Hunter Parrish), and Miguel (Antonio García).

While the storyline might be conventional, predictable, even formulaic, it works, at least most of the time. We've obviously seen this storyline before, beginning with The Blackboard Jungle in 1954 (starring Sidney Poitier as a troubled, talent student and Glenn Ford as the teacher-mentor), through To Sir With Love in 1967 (Poitier again, this time as the teacher, an American teaching high school in London), Stand and Deliver in 1988 (Edward James Olmos stepping in as a math teacher in East L.A.), Dangerous Minds (Michelle Pfeiffer as the tough, but compassion instructor, again in an inner city) in 1995, and on through Half Nelson last year (Ryan Gosling as a deeply flawed teacher who tries to "save" a star pupil from a charismatic drug dealer).

All, with the exception of Half Nelson follow the formula to the genre: disinterested, abandoned, underperforming students are taught to believe in themselves and success inevitably follows. Freedom Writers makes the usual message about tolerance far more explicit, though. Here, the students break off into warring camps or tribes along ethnic lines, African-Americans, Latinos (mostly Mexicans), Asians (mostly Cambodians), and white (well, just one, and he's mostly in Freedom Writers for much-needed comic relief). They see each other as the enemy and even minor slights are treated as grounds for a beatdown (dutifully given). As the white knight (literally, and yes, women can be knights), Erin walks into their world in a red business suit and a pearl necklace (not exactly confidence-boosting attire). She succeeds, of course, but not before overcoming a series of professional and personal obstacles.

Erin's obstacles to succeeding as a teacher are manifold: the self-doubting students themselves, the administrators at the high school, her father's lack of confidence in her career as a teacher, and her husband's increasing distance, as he becomes increasingly shut off from and shut out from Erin's all-consuming passion for teaching her students, who, not surprisingly, become a family in all but name. Predictably, Erin grows from naive, idealistic, first-time teacher to experienced, all-around teacher-mentor-parent-friend. Her compassion and desire to teach waver, but only early on, before she begins to realize that creative solutions are needed to get through to her students.

LaGravenese elicits all-around credible, grounded performances from Hilary Swank (no surprise there) a cast of relative unknowns, with standout performances by April Lee Hernandez as a Latina in conflict with everything she once valued (e.g., family, gang, ethnicity), Jason Finn as Marcus and Mario as Andre, African-American gang members. Besides Swank, Hernandez gets the most screen time. Eva's are used as opening voice over narration (Eva also gets a flashback to her youth). It's obvious from the get-go that Eva has the B-storyline. Second to Erin, she has the fullest emotional arc, meaning she has to express the widest range of emotions. Luckily, thankfully, she has enough talent and, presumably, with LaGravenese's direction, she never overplays her scenes.

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