Honestly speaking, I don’t know how I will start with my review of the movie. Maybe because I up until now, I can still feel the stabs that it made in my heart. It actually left pain in my bosom. A pain not made by hurt, but made by passion. I feel for her- Ms. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) - because I am also a teacher (well, soon to be!). I understand the inner force that drives her to fulfill the responsibilities of being a teacher not just in the four corners of the class room but also in the life of her “kids”, as she calls them.
Freedom Writers is a 123-minute movie based on the journals written by the actual Freedom Writers Gruwell taught in the mid-90. She is an idealistic white teacher who is now ready to venture the real world as she teaches at Woodrow Wilson High School. There, she found herself in a class of various groups - African Americans, Latinos, Asians, juvenile delinquents, gang members, and underprivileged students from poor neighborhood. They don’t value education and feel compelled to attend school just to make it through the day. But, Gruwell believed that all of them have stories to tell. She did her best to motivate her students and to make them trust her. In the end, she was successful in making her students realize that there’s more to life, that they can have bigger goals other than reach the age of 18.
Teachers and students can both learn from the principles Miss G (that’s how she was addressed by her beloved students) laid out in the movie.
To the teachers, we (yes, I include myself) should not be contented in just achieving the objectives we set in our Lesson Plans beforehand. The measure of our success as teachers is not based by how high or low the grades of our students are. Being a teacher does not end when the bell rings because the actual class room is life itself. We are a powerful agent of change for we hold the lives of our students in the palm of our hands. To make them or to break them- it’s our decision. That’s why they say that Education is not just a simply a profession, but a vocation. It takes love to go through all the challenges. It takes a burning passion to set the lives of the students ablaze, to help them pursue their dreams. Like what a famous quotation says, “A teacher affects eternity; no one can tell where his influence stops.”
Be inspired, Teachers. No other job is ever fulfilling than this: to see the lives of your students forever changed.
To the students, value education. Don’t ever think that you are wasting time in school. As young people, our views are limited. We don’t see things the way a “grown-up” see them. Sometimes, we think that life is all about pleasure. Other times, we think that we are only living for ourselves and we don’t anymore care for others.
Life is not like that. We are living in a world of diversity. No two men are exactly the same. We are created uniquely, different from others. Let us recognize that as we share our stories, as we open up our hearts to one another, we can create a better world together.
Bottom line, it’s a worth-watching movie. You just have to be patient if you are not fund of heavy movies, or else you’ll find it boring. There are so many narrations and if you are not attentive, you’ll miss small details that are significant to the totality of story. Another plus factor that makes it interesting is that the group of teenage actors they’ve brought together is perfectly cool. They are really good and portrayed their roles well.
Let me end this review with a line from one of the characters, the old lady who helped Anne Frank during the holocaust (yes, you’re reading right. If you’ll watch the movie, you’ll find out what’s the significance of the story of Anne Frank in the movie). She says, “You are a hero yourself.”
Agree. I believe so. You and I, we are a hero on our own little ways.
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