Freedom Writers is a 2007 biographical drama based on the true events of an actual school teacher, Erin Gruwell, and her 150 students in Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. “The Freedom Writers’ Diary,” a nonfiction book published in 1999, was its source material.

This movie allows the viewer a crushingly honest look into the gangster and violence-torn neighbourhoods of 1990s America. I guess when there are enough racially diverse immigrants from across the world in one place, where poverty and unemployment are high, and quality of life is low, inter-racial gangs and violence start to happen. This movie allows us to look into what happens when racially diverse communities are at an undeclared war with each other through the lens of a high school teacher and her teenage students.

Arguably, it can be said that the portrayal of the children is mainly done with the overarching message of tolerance. This is apparently evident, as we see the characters’ journey from deeply segregated racial communities, where the notion of killing or dying themselves for their clan, a matter of pride.

“The war has been declared, now it’s a fight for power, money, and territory; we are killing each other over race, pride, and respect. They started the war in our Aztlán, a land that belongs to us by nature, and by nature we will bury them.”

         Diary 3: Freedom Writers’ Diary

…to characters who became a family and put down their guns, and picked up pens to craft their story together. This can be seen in the changing mindsets of the students as;

“No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way.”

Diary 19: Freedom Writers’ Diary

That’s perfectly pleasing and all right and all… but I don’t think that’s the main message of this depiction.

I think the more pressing idea is of education, and moreover, the act of writing.

Throughout their story, we move with Miss Gruwell as she works with unimaginable patience to get her students to read a book. Wisely enough, she chooses ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ because it’s her judgment that the children will relate to her.

Relating to the stories of other people or characters is extremely important. Authors have always strived to make their characters, whether fictitious or not, relatable. That’s the only way, readers would care for them. That’s the only way of making characters and stories tangible, and hence appealing.

And though for many students, Anne was not a colored-underprivileged child, and she did not come from the ‘hood’, but they did realize that she was a minority, and her right to live her life and her aspirations freely and to the fullest was taken away from her simply because of her race and religious identity.

And ironically I would say it was more impactful for the students when they learnt that Anne did not survive the Holocaust. She did not make it. And though it might’ve shattered their hopes to some extent, it did engrave a very deep understanding of the fact that when you write, you eternalize a piece of yourself.

Anne Frank did not make it. But she still lives on, in the hopes and strengths of millions of people.

So while arguably, some might point out to the scene when Eva testifies truly and convicts someone from her own clan, as the pivotal moment. It was a right but extremely challenging thing to do. It signifies the change from ‘protecting your race and brotherhood no matter the cost’ to doing what’s right and looking beyond race.

But I will say that the pivotal point was when Eva flipped out about Anne dying, and Marcus said out loud the fact that Anna Frank didn’t die. So many of their friends were dead due to the undeclared war, but no one will remember them. But Anne Frank not only lives on, she influences people.

That’s a world of difference. That is what writing does.

And so, Miss Gruwell inspires them to tell their own stories, to first document them as just Diary entries, which were later compiled and edited, became a manuscript and now are published as a timeless piece in biographical literature.

For a teacher to carry her students on such a journey is reasonably devoid of words that could aptly praise the act. I guess that’s why this story attracted national attention.

On a side note, this movie marks the late 1990s of America when interracial violence was considerably decreasing. But since it was such a hot topic then, like the national attention garnered by the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), a lot of popular media picked up on this.

Like the release of the popular 1998 American buddy cop action comedy film “Rush Hour”, which follows the wildly entertaining odd friendship of a Chinese American cop (Jackie Chan) and an African American cop (Chris Tucker). The widespread popularity of this film is generally regarded by critics, with the tensions between these two racial communities at the time in America.

Another thing I’d like to appreciate is the rawness of our teenage characters. They are affiliated with gangs, they have their pride and their ideologies, but at the end of the day, they’re teenagers. And how they sometimes let go of their façade and express themselves truly is heart-grabbing stuff. Like how a student writes about their time going to a fancy restaurant;

“But the bathroom was nothing compared to the dinner. There were more courses than O.J. has alibis. My napkin looked like a centerpiece, and my food was too damn perfect to touch.”

Diary 22: Freedom Writers’ Diary

And finally, I’d also like to appreciate how few creative liberties were taken in the production of this iconic biographical drama. Most of the dialogue and storyline can be traced to the real-life events. The screenwriters and cinematographers were able to create a pretty engaging film while still doing justice to the source material and to the stories of the people.

This is not really a history buff movie. It does come in the feel-good territory with the dopamine inducing ending but also gives adrenaline peaks at the crime within it. It’s sort of a recommended watch.

 Thanks for your reading time. I wish upon you days devoid of violence and a lovely time where you write your own story.