Movie Review (Freedom Writers)

"Oh these days the students are so indifferent. They are so difficult to be tackled. I don't think I can make sense! Teaching is my duty and if they don't respond, I can't do anything further! ....." The movie reminded me of all these thoughtless grumpy words which I have uttered on various occasions. And I regret it all now. It takes just a minute for a teacher to blame the students for their shortcomings. But it takes immense courage and compassion to take responsibility. Most of us fail in this. Only select few teachers like Ms.G surpass this and create an everlasting impact in the lives of their students!

"Freedom Writers"— the American movie which hit the screen in 2007 is based on the book "The Freedom Writers Diary" published by Erin Gruwell (a compilation of her students' write-ups)

The plot revolves around Erin Gruwell (known as Ms.G). She joins Wilson Highschool as a teacher of English and is given freshman year at-risk students who are diverse in their race and are victims of the communal riots. When she tries to teach them, they don't heed her. They even show no respect either to the teacher or to the subject. They kick-start brawls and develop it into fight. But she doesn't relent. 

She finds out ways to grab their attention—comes up with numerous unconventional teaching techniques that will interest them. Once when a Latin American student teases an African American student, she takes that as an opportunity to teach them what holocaust is. As a part of that, when she tries to get books from the library for the students, the librarian denies stating that the students are too unfit and unworthy for such initiatives and dismisses her request. Even the other colleagues think that she tries to overstep the authority and turn against her. She doesn't lose hope. Rather she takes up two part-time jobs to earn more so that she can afford to buy books to all the students.

She even gives all the students, a journal each and suggests them to write their heart out. The journals can be submitted to her, if they wish. As she expects, she gets all the journals piled up in the cupboard. Reading them she comes to know how each and every student has been worsely affected due to the racial violence. Overwhelmed by all these sufferings, she intensifies her efforts to reform the students which gradually separates her from her husband.

Thus the second half of the movie unleashes how each student is gradually reformed and develop bond with Ms.G. The movie ends with a positive note that Ms.G is allowed to teach them further in junior and senior years despite her colleagues' displeasure and compiles all the write-ups as a book, "Freedom Writers Diary". 

Being a teacher myself, I could feel the dense and depth of the plot and can easily relate to the characters. When I came to know that it was based on a real life incident, I couldn't help but wondered how a teacher could be so solid and valid in developing the students from the scratch.  She didn't merely give up on the students rather empathized with them. When the others told that the students were not capable of reading books, she let them write their own stories. It was not her knowledge but her compassion that won the hearts of the students. Ms.Gruwell stands tall as a testimony to the belief that a teacher can mould the students the way he/she wants!