Review of Freedom Writers (2007) by Reed M — 12 Jan 2013

'Freedom Writers' is an adaptation of the non-fiction book 'The Freedom Writers Diary' by the actual students in the book and their teacher, or as they are credited "The Freedom Writers". The book is basically the story of a teacher who got a bunch of kids from the 'ghetto' to become more interested in learning, equality, and the benefit of their own lives. That may have been the lousiest description for that book ever written, but you get the idea. I haven't read the book, so I'll be judging the movie on it's own merit, knowing it's based on a true story.

This movie, while not my favourite movie, is just a perfect movie for someone like me. Not just because it's a legitimately good film, which it definitely is, but also because it has it's cheesy moments. It's a great movie to make fun of. I'm the kind of person who loves a silly movie to make fun of, some of my favourite movies are often classified as "so bad it's good" movies. This movie doesn't have a huge amount of silly moments in it, but when they appear, they're brilliant.

But as I said, this movie has it's good qualities to it as well. All the acting in this film is really good, and it has some great scenes. All the students, although a bit too cliched, are all great, and Hilary Swank as Mrs. Gruwell is great too. This was a particularly good film to watch while still in school too, since we can relate to what some of the kids go through, or how our peers act, and it also helps us understand that teachers are people too, a surprisingly hard thing to understand as a school student.

The film, even though it's based on a true story, is very cliche and predictable. You can almost tell by the way a character looks whether or not they're a going to be a villain. This may be a bad thing for a lot of people who see this movie, but not so much for me since I can just laugh at it. The film's soundtrack is almost entirely hip hop tracks, which may fit with the theme of the movie, fits with almost none of the actual scenes they are played in. Once again, some people may not like this, but I find it hilarious and laugh every time.

The times you laugh in this won't always be because of the silliness of it, it actually has funny moments in it. The few times this movie tries to be funny, it succeeds and never seems like it shouldn't be there. The varying drama and comedy in different scenes seem very real, and makes the entire film a bit more believable. Although this film is silly at times, the only thing that ever feels out of place is the previously mentioned music. The silly scenes are silly, but somehow they work. The movie seems somewhat aware of how silly it is, and just embraces it, which is great.

To most people, this is a drama with a few comedy elements. To me this one half drama, the other half comedy. I love this film for all the right and wrong reasons, and recommend it to those either love movies with cheesiness, or are able to ignore it to appreciate how good the film really is.

I love this film, and you probably will too.