Verlizza Rhina G.

Ganotice 12 – ABM 1

“We Mattered”

The title of the movie to be critiqued in this paper is called “Freedom Writers”. Freedom
Writers is a 2007 drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary
Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey and Mario. It is based on the book The
Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell who wrote the story based on Woodrow Wilson
Classical High School in Long Beach, California. We learn a lot of things along the way but
these hardships guides us to do better and let this not hinder us to explore and enjoy the world.
Just like the students in the movie, not all of them had a good childhood but thanks to their
teacher, Ms. Gruwell, she was able to change their perspectives in life and make them felt that
they mattered.

Freedom Writers is a movie based on the true story and diaries of students in Ms.
Gruwell's class, a first time teacher hired to teach a lower level academic class at Woodrow
Wilson High School. She chose to teach at that school because of its integration program, the
students she's teaching are students who are apart of gang members, also witnessed somebody
they know get killed by gang violence. Some of them are their friends and some part of their
family. The only person that the students hate more is Ms.G but that isn't until she has a group
discussion about a drive-by that recently happened and the day she started a daily journal
assignment for them to work on. The students begin to trust Ms.G and open up to her. She finds
it hard to teach properly, and to also put up with her colleagues especially with Margaret
Campbell who lives by the regulations and rules and Brian Gelford who is protecting his position
as a senior honor classes. Ms.G also finds that her spending too much time with her students is
putting a wall between her marriage to Scott Casey.

I believe the main theme for this movie is that we shouldn’t judge others easily based on
their looks, skin and color. All of us deserve a chance to live our life to the fullest so we should
give others a chance too. Just like what Ms. Gruwell did in the movie, she knew the conditions of
her students, the reason why they act the way they did. She didn’t just stood there and neglect her
responsibilities as a teacher, she gave them knowledge that they deserve. With this new profound
knowledge, it led to the change and development of their minds. Their world expanded and
formed into a new one where they feel what is right for them. This just symbolizes that we are all
equal if we just accept and understand one another. Free from stereotypes and biases. The line
that I liked the most from the movie is ''Life is full mistakes to learn and to achieve from,
because if we don't learn from them, we will not achieve from them''. This says that even if the
students made mistakes in the past, it doesn’t define them. Life is full of mistakes for us to learn
from and overcome in order to achieve what we wanted. We shouldn’t let fear dictate our lives,
but let this guide us into the right path. I like the representation of Ms. Gruwell as the teacher for
these students. She’s just a new teacher but she proved that she can teach these students and give
them what she ought to give. It may seem impossible, but she did not lose hope and found other
ways to achieve what she set in mind. This symbolizes that even her, a newly employed teacher
with no experience was able to change the minds of these students. These students who had seen
most of what she never had experienced in her life. A little ripple that can cause a big wave. This
just means that even the simplest things we encounter in our life can make a huge difference. Let
us remove the stereotypes we set to each other and see from a naked eye. Where everyone is
happy and living the life they should be like the class of the freedom writers. They started off as
strangers and gang members but in the end, their world changed and minds gained new
perspectives. They realized that violence doesn’t end a war; one must start with himself to end it.

Overall, I am really impressed with this movie. Everything from the cast to the theme and
storyline was amazing. The symbolism really touched the hearts of those who watch it. It teaches
us that we shouldn’t judge others on what we see but accept them for who they are. Let us give a
chance for those who made mistakes in the past, and make them learn and achieve from it. “We
may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one
human race. We all share the same basic values.” – Kofi Annan