Freedom Writers
| Freedom Writers | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Richard LaGravenese |
| Produced by |
Danny DeVito Michael Shamberg Stacey Sher |
| Screenplay by | Richard LaGravenese |
| Based on |
The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and her class |
| Starring |
Hilary Swank Scott Glenn Imelda Staunton Patrick Dempsey Mario |
| Music by |
Mark Isham will.i.am RZA |
| Cinematography | Jim Denault |
| Edited by | David Moritz |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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122 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $21 million |
| Box office | $43.1 million |
Freedom Writers is a 2007 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 who wrote the story based on Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles, California. The movie is also based on the DC program called City at Peace. The title is a play on the term "Freedom Riders", referring to the multiracial civil rights activists who tested the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961.
The idea for the film came from journalist Tracey Durning, who made a documentary about Erin Gruwell for the ABC News program Primetime Live. Durning served as co-executive producer of the film. The film was dedicated to the memory of Armand Jones, who was killed after wrapping up Freedom Writers. He was 18 and was shot to death in Anaheim, California after a confrontation with a man who robbed Jones of a necklace in a Denny's restaurant.
Woodrow Wilson High School is a formerly high-achieving school which has encountered some difficulties bearing its new racial integration plan. In 1994, in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots, Erin Gruwell, an enthusiastic young teacher starts at the school. Her enthusiasm is challenged when she finds her class is composed of "at-risk" students, the "untouchables," and not the eager-for-college students she expected. Her students self-segregate into racial groups within the classroom. This causes problems, as gang fights break out and, consequently, most of her students stop attending class. Not only is Gruwell challenged with gaining her students' trust on personal and academic levels, but she must do so with very little support from her professional peers and district higher-ups. For example, her department head refuses to provide Gruwell with an adequate number of books for her class because she insists they will get damaged and lost. Instead, she suggests that Gruwell focuses on instilling concepts of discipline and obedience in her classroom.
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