 Freedom Writers
Starring: Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn, Mario
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese
Screenplay by: Richard LaGravenese
Release Date: January 5th, 2007
Running Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violent content, some thematic material and language.
Studio: Paramount Pictures
 Domestic: $36,605,602 (85.0%)
Foreign: $6,485,139 (15.0%)
Total: $43,090,741 (Worldwide)
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 Tagline: Their story, their words.
Fresh-faced, idealistic twenty-three-year-old Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) is ready to take on the world as she steps inside Wilson High School for her first day of teaching. Her class, a diverse group of racially charged teenagers from different walks of life - African Americans, Latinos, Asians, juvenile delinquents, gang members, and underprivileged students from poor neighborhoods - hope for nothing more than to make it through the day.
On the surface, the only thing they share is their hatred for each other and the understanding that they are simply being warehoused in the educational system until they are old enough to disappear. Despite her students' obstinate refusal to participate during class, Erin tries various means to engage them on a daily basis.
But then ghetto reality steps in to focus the picture. A racially motivated gang shooting witnessed by a Latina gang member in Erin's class, and an an ugly racial cartoon that Erin intercepts during class, become the most unwittingly dynamic teaching aids. They spark a transformation in the classroom, compel them to listen and force her to take off her idealistic blinders and take in the kids' survival stories of their undeclared war on the streets.
Erin begins to connect with them. She brings in music from the `Hood, and literature from another kind of ghetto, The Diary of Anne Frank, and with these simple tools she opens her students' eyes to the experiences of those suffering intolerance throughout the world and the struggles of those outside their own communities.
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