Freedom Writers (Blu-ray) PG-13
Their story. Their world. Their future.
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Freedom Writers (Blu-ray)
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Freedom Writers (DVD)
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Also released as:
Freedom Writers
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Freedom Writers [Blu-Ray]
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Blu-ray Details
- Rated: PG-13
- Run Time: 2 hours, 2 minutes
- Video: Color
- Encoding: Region A
- Released: September 26, 2017
- Originally Released: 2007
- Label: Paramount
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Starring | Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton & Patrick Dempsey | |
Performer: | Hunter Parrish, Robert Wisdom, Gabriel Chavarria, John Benjamin Hickey & Pat Carroll | |
Directed by | Richard LaGravenese | |
Edited by | David Moritz | |
Screenplay by | Richard LaGravenese | |
Composition by | Mark Isham | |
Produced by | Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg & Danny DeVito | |
Director of Photography: | Jim Denault |
Entertainment Reviews:
Rating: B+ --
A richly rewarding film experience that rises to the top of its genre.
Full Review
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
Rating: 3/5 --
A touching performance from Hilary Swank ensures that Freedom Writers is not just another tripe genre movie.
Full Review
The List
While it is, like its genre brethren, inspiring and uplifting, Freedom Writers glosses over so much material that it makes the process look too easy.
Full Review
Calgary Movies
Rating: B --
Engaging but clichéd inspirational drama set during the time of the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles. On some level, just about any movie featuring never-say-die teachers is effective.
Full Review
Christian Science Monitor
It's a stirring real-life tale, and Hilary Swank is a suitably perky, excitable lead...
Sight and Sound
Rating: C- --
Ironically, the film features almost zero teaching. Despite much pedagogical posturing, it doesn't teach us much, either.
Full Review
Nick's Flick Picks
Rating: 2.5/4 --
Corny? You bet. And worse when the plot veers into the glitz of a Dangerous Minds and the sappiness of a TV After School Special. But the movie, which Swank helped produce by using her clout as a two-time Oscar winner, gets to you.
Rolling Stone
Product Description:
Based on actual diary accounts of several teenagers following the L.A. riots, FREEDOM WRITERS is the story of an idealistic teacher's attempts to make a difference in the lives of her at-risk students. Located in gang-ravaged Long Beach, California, Woodrow Wilson High is a hotbed of violence due to a voluntary integration program which brings Black, Latino, Asian, and White students together. Rather than having the desired effect of creating healthy diversity, this program breeds constant war between all parties involved, the result being daily gun shots, constant racial slurs, and gang violence.
Played largely by young unknowns, the freshman class in question is both naïve and wise beyond its years. While never having heard of the Holocaust, these kids are well-versed in the pain of poverty, the legal system, and death. Despite being up against unthinkable violence, devoted first-time teacher Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) never gives up, slowly bonding with her class of at-first unreachable pupils, breaking down their tough exteriors and getting at the real people beneath through requiring the students keep daily journals. Meanwhile, a strain is put on Erin's marriage as her student involvement gradually takes priority over her personal life. The intensity with which Erin relates to her work threatens her husband (Patrick Dempsey), who in seeing Erin's transformation, is reminded of his own stagnancy. Thanks to a catalogue of films including STAND AND DELIVER and DANGEROUS MINDS, any film about inspiring teachers risks feeling redundant and preachy. But writer/director Richard LaGravenese manages to put a fresh spin on this already familiar formula thanks to powerful performances by Hillary Swank, Imelda Staunton, and several newcomers. While slightly predictable, FREEDOM WRITERS critiques the public education system in an ultimately moving way.
Played largely by young unknowns, the freshman class in question is both naïve and wise beyond its years. While never having heard of the Holocaust, these kids are well-versed in the pain of poverty, the legal system, and death. Despite being up against unthinkable violence, devoted first-time teacher Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) never gives up, slowly bonding with her class of at-first unreachable pupils, breaking down their tough exteriors and getting at the real people beneath through requiring the students keep daily journals. Meanwhile, a strain is put on Erin's marriage as her student involvement gradually takes priority over her personal life. The intensity with which Erin relates to her work threatens her husband (Patrick Dempsey), who in seeing Erin's transformation, is reminded of his own stagnancy. Thanks to a catalogue of films including STAND AND DELIVER and DANGEROUS MINDS, any film about inspiring teachers risks feeling redundant and preachy. But writer/director Richard LaGravenese manages to put a fresh spin on this already familiar formula thanks to powerful performances by Hillary Swank, Imelda Staunton, and several newcomers. While slightly predictable, FREEDOM WRITERS critiques the public education system in an ultimately moving way.