Plot
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
Release Year: 2007
Rating: 7.4/10 (25,064 voted)
Critic's Score: 64/100
Director:
Richard LaGravenese
Stars: Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey
Storyline It's 1994 in Long Beach, California. Idealistic
Writers: Richard LaGravenese, Freedom Writers
Cast: Hilary Swank
-
Erin Gruwell
Patrick Dempsey
-
Scott Casey
Scott Glenn
-
Steve Gruwell
Imelda Staunton
-
Margaret Campbell
April L. Hernandez
-
Eva Benitez
(as April Lee Hernandez)
Mario
-
Andre Bryant
Kristin Herrera
-
Gloria Munez
Jaclyn Ngan
-
Sindy
Sergio Montalvo
-
Alejandro Santiago
Jason Finn
-
Marcus
Deance Wyatt
-
Jamal Hill
Vanetta Smith
-
Brandy Ross
Gabriel Chavarria
-
Tito
Hunter Parrish
-
Ben Daniels
Antonio García
-
Miguel
Filming Locations: Hamilton High School, Los Angeles, California, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $21,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $9,405,582
(USA)
(7 January 2007)
Gross: $43,090,741
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Hilary Swank beat out her co-star in this movie, Imelda Staunton, for the 2005 Oscar for Best Actress.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When the computers are lent to the students to type their diaries, they all know how to type correctly. This isn't consistent with their backgrounds.
Quotes: Andre:
It's the dumb class cuz. It means you too dumb. Jamal:
Man, say it to my face cuz. Andre:
I just did. See what I mean? Dumb?
User Review
Don't listen to the naysayers
Rating:
I read the message boards before seeing the movie and wasn't really
that excited to go see it. Yes, the general storyline has been done
before...
I'm a male teenager and this movie made me cry. I can't remember the
last time a movie made me cry... in fact, I don't think I have
(teary-eyed doesn't count). Freedom Writers moved me.
It was so much better than I expected. All I can say is that it is
definitely worth at least a matinée viewing.
The movie reminded me that all of America isn't like white middle-class
suburbia, of which I am a part. Regardless of how many times the same
movie has been done before, the white middle-class can use as many
reminders as possible that education is not that easy to obtain
everywhere. Even in America, opportunity is not equal, and I think it's
important for people to see that.
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