![]() See Half Nelson, a much lower profile, yet much better movie that isn't an insult to your intelligence. It's to bad the filmmakers weren't more like them (although, to their credit, the classroom interaction among the students at the start of the film was spot on). The real children were insiteful and aware of life in the ghetto. The student's intense and genuine diary entries, no doubt a major factor in the reviews, would be just as effecting if you read them yourself. I don't know how the real life Gruwell accomplished what she did, but it couldn't have been how it was portrayed in this movie. The almost immediate transformation of the culturally deprived urban students to highly motivated students is not at all beleivable. Although at times moving, freedom writers only serves to rehash all the cliches of the "genre" (there have been so many movies like this it could be called a genre of its own). Although at times moving, freedom writers only serves to rehash all the cliches of the "genre" (there have been so many movies like this it could be It's unfortunate that a true story with such potential was ruined by poor film making. It's unfortunate that a true story with such potential was ruined by poor film making. ![]() The success and redemption of these hard-knock kids is somewhat blunted by an unwillingness on the filmmaker's part to be more objective about its subject. This well-meaning film tries too hard to grab our hearts. There's also an odd episode or two that is more documentary than drama, which is an odd mix since the film makes no attempt at realism. At times, the film feels like "Boyz in the Hood" as rendered by the PAX network. You get the sense that these inner-city kids have good hearts, however, the portrayal of their lives seem too sanitized to achieve versimilitude. As vanity projects go, this earnest telling of an extraordinary teacher and her second chance pupils isn't "Battlefield Earth"-bad, but it's close. ![]() As vanity projects go, this earnest telling of an extraordinary teacher and her second chance pupils isn't "Battlefield Earth"-bad, but "Freedom Writers" is a story that should rightfully be told.in the form of a documentary. "Freedom Writers" is a story that should rightfully be told.in the form of a documentary.
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