Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition)
by Richard LaGravenese
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DVD details
Actor: April L. Hernandez, Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey, Scott GlennDirector: Richard LaGravenese
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Producer: Hilary Swank
Writer: Richard LaGravenese
Producer: Daniel S. Levine
Producer: Danny DeVito
Producer: Jordana Glick-Franzheim
Writer: Erin Gruwell
Writer: Freedom Writers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-17
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition)
DVD Review: An Unsung Feel Good Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Without trying to sound like Roger Ebert, I am going to keep this review simple. The story is very predictable but who cares, Hillary Swank is on top of her game as a young naive teacher in an inner-city school in LA. She has the forgotten children, warehouse them and hope they drop out before senior year. She bucks the system and realizes that failure is not an option.
She reaches out to the children by having the read "The Diary Of Anne Frank" which shows her kids that they are not alone on feeling like they are victims in an unforgiving world.
You will need a box of kleenex to get through this movie and even though his role is very small, Scott Glenn shines through as Hilary's father who stands behind his daughter and realizes that he too has much to learn from her students.
This movie will make a great stocking stuffer.
DVD Review: Hum Ho
Summary: 2 Stars
Place this next to,The Class, a Parisian film with a teacher of literacy with students of not dissimilar disadvantages and issues of racial vilification, and you'll understand that the whole tone of the American product is pitched with a radically varying perspective. Though you might shed the occasional tear for the young student's moments of self-realisation, and feel compassion for the Freedom Writers, there is none of the realism and cathartic whack delivered by its French counterpart. Put simply, in the superior French cinematic experience you don't feel the seperation between actor and audience. In the Californian article, you are aware that Hillary is playing a role, competently enough, but playing nevertheless, when all is done and dusted. Its stylistic pitch is in search of a populist market and consequently reveals the difference between adulthood and adolescence. In this sense, the movie is condescending to whatever audience it has in mind.DVD Review: Freedom Writers
Summary: 5 Stars
Of this movie "Who Magazine" says, "The scripting and performances are taut and intense". Again, about this movie, "Moviehole" states, "A masterful achievement that engages the mind and touches the heart". Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank stars in this gripping story of inner-city kids raised on drive-by shootings and hard-core attitude-and the teacher who gives them the one thing they need most: a voice of their own. Dropped into the free-fire zone of a school torn by violence and racial tension, teacher Erin Gruwell battles an uncaring system in a fight to make the classroom matter in her students' lives. Now, telling their own stories, and hearing the stories of others, a group of supposedly "unteachable" teens will discover the power of tolerance, reclaim their shattered lives and change their world. With electrifying from its all-star cast, including Golden Globe Award Winner Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy)and recording star Mario, FREEDOM WRITERS is based on the acclaimed best-seller, THE FREEDOM WRITER DIARY.DVD Review: Wonderful story!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have only seen this once but it was such a great story I had to get it on blu-ray. Teachers will love it.DVD Review: Wonderful movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a gift for a friend. I had already seen it....it is a GREAT movie - lots of meaning and true life happenings!
Description of Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition)
A YOUNG TEACHER INSPIRES HER CLASS OF AT-RISK STUDENTS TO LEARN TOLERANCE, APPLY THEMSELVES & PURSUE EDUCATION BEYOND HIGHSCHOOL.Though the "inspirational teacher" theme may feel done to death, Freedom Writers succeeds because it emphasizes the students as much as the teacher. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry) comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism, but quickly discovers that her unruly classroom isn't easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives--an assignment that the class bites into with relish, which eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. This plotline has been made before, sometimes well, sometimes poorly; Freedom Writers, by drawing heavily from the published journals of the students--and thanks to a (mostly) unheroic script, direction that emphasizes individual characters over stereotypes, and rigorous performances from the whole cast--makes the story seem fresh and genuine. Swank does solid work, but the standouts are April L. Hernandez as a girl whose gang wants her to lie and send an innocent boy to jail and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as a teacher who resents Gruwell's offbeat success. Also featuring Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff), and a plethora of strong young actors. --Bret Fetzer
Beyond Freedom Writers
 More Inspirational Teacher Films on DVD |  The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell |  More DVDs Starring Hilary Swank |
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