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Freedom Writers

  • 20072007
  • K-11K-11
  • 2h 3m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
81K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,236
312
Hilary Swank, Mario, Hunter Parrish, April Hernandez Castillo, Jason Finn, and Jaclyn Ngan in Freedom Writers (2007)
Theatrical Trailer from Paramount
Play trailer2:25
8 Videos
99+ Photos
BiographyCrimeDrama

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school.A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school.A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school.

IMDb RATING
7.6/10
81K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,236
312
    • Richard LaGravenese
    • Richard LaGravenese(screenplay)
    • Freedom Writers(book "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them")
    • Erin Gruwell(book "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them")
  • Stars
    • Hilary Swank
    • Imelda Staunton
    • Patrick Dempsey
    • Richard LaGravenese
    • Richard LaGravenese(screenplay)
    • Freedom Writers(book "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them")
    • Erin Gruwell(book "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them")
  • Stars
    • Hilary Swank
    • Imelda Staunton
    • Patrick Dempsey
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 297User reviews
    • 79Critic reviews
    • 64Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos8

    Freedom Writers
    Trailer 2:25
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Trailer 2:31
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Clip 0:53
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Clip 0:52
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Clip 0:42
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Interview 0:30
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Interview 0:30
    Watch Freedom Writers
    Freedom Writers
    Interview 6:36
    Watch Freedom Writers

    Photos119

    Hilary Swank and Hunter Parrish in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Hilary Swank in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Mario in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Hilary Swank, Hunter Parrish, and Vanetta Smith in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Mario and Deance Wyatt in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Hilary Swank and Kristin Herrera in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Hilary Swank and Jason Finn in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Hilary Swank and Mario in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Hunter Parrish in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Imelda Staunton and Hilary Swank in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Patrick Dempsey in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Jason Finn in Freedom Writers (2007)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Hilary Swank
    Hilary Swank
    • Erin Gruwell
    Imelda Staunton
    Imelda Staunton
    • Margaret Campbell
    Patrick Dempsey
    Patrick Dempsey
    • Scott Casey
    Scott Glenn
    Scott Glenn
    • Steve Gruwell
    April Hernandez Castillo
    April Hernandez Castillo
    • Eva Benitez
    • (as April Lee Hernandez)
    Mario
    Mario
    • Andre Bryant
    Kristin Herrera
    Kristin Herrera
    • Gloria Munez
    Jaclyn Ngan
    Jaclyn Ngan
    • Sindy
    Sergio Montalvo
    • Alejandro Santiago
    Jason Finn
    Jason Finn
    • Marcus
    Deance Wyatt
    Deance Wyatt
    • Jamal Hill
    Vanetta Smith
    Vanetta Smith
    • Brandy Ross
    Gabriel Chavarria
    Gabriel Chavarria
    • Tito
    Hunter Parrish
    Hunter Parrish
    • Ben Daniels
    Antonio García
    • Miguel
    Giovonnie Samuels
    Giovonnie Samuels
    • Victoria
    John Benjamin Hickey
    John Benjamin Hickey
    • Brian Gelford
    Robert Wisdom
    Robert Wisdom
    • Dr. Carl Cohn
      • Richard LaGravenese
      • Richard LaGravenese(screenplay)
      • Freedom Writers(book "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them")
      • Erin Gruwell(book "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them")
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      At the hotel dinner for the kids, after their trip to the Holocaust museum, all of the Holocaust survivor characters are played by actual Holocaust survivors.
    • Goofs
      The scene where Miep Gies tells the day Anne Frank was captured was told with some factual errors. Gies never went back to her house that very day to get bribery materials.
    • Quotes

      Miep Gies: But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.

    • Connections
      Featured in Common Feat. Will.i.am: A Dream (2006)
    • Soundtracks
      When The Shit Goes Down
      by DJ Muggs (as Larry E. Muggerud), Lawrence Dickens & B-Real (as Louis M. Freese)

      Performed by Cypress Hill

      Courtesy of Columbia Records

      By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

      Contains a sample of "Deep Gully" by Lawrence Dickens

      Performed by The Outlaw Blues Band

      Courtesy of Geffen Records

      Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

    User reviews297

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    The Wider World
    Films about our educational system have been moneymakers from The Blackboard Jungle, to Up the Down Staircase, to Stand and Deliver and now Freedom Writers. This film and Hilary Swank's lead performance in it have an honored place among those previously mentioned.

    If you noticed the common thread running through all the films mentioned and this one is that it seems to take a neophyte teacher to shake up the system and try something new. And that's what Hilary Swank is in Long Beach High School a newly racially mixed school where all the kids seem to be balkanized.

    The real miracle that was wrought in Freedom Writers is that Swank gave these kids a vision of the wider world. And that vision showed that as young people they had far more in common than the race and ethnicity that divided them. The writing came when she had them keep diaries that could be read on a volunteer basis.

    I had a few good teachers like Hilary Swank in my youth. Some of them were just time servers and not terribly inspirational. Those are the folks the educational system ought to treasure.

    I'd expect nothing less than the best from a two time Oscar winner and Ms. Swank does deliver. She gets good support from Patrick Dempsey as the husband who becomes estranged from her with her single minded devotion to her kids and from Scott Glenn as her father.

    What was for me the best was having those kids read about the troubles of another young person who they could relate to. That would be Anne Frank and her diary. And the meeting of Swank's class with Holocaust survivors was tender and touching indeed.

    I wish she'd been my teacher and given me The Diary of Anne Frank to read. Better than reading Silas Marner.
    helpful•21
    6
    • bkoganbing
    • Jan 10, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 5, 2007 (United States)
      • Germany
      • United States
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Hamilton High School, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Paramount Pictures
      • Double Feature Films
      • MTV Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 2 hours 3 minutes
      • Color
      • DTS
      • SDDS
      • Dolby Digital

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    Hilary Swank, Mario, Hunter Parrish, April Hernandez Castillo, Jason Finn, and Jaclyn Ngan in Freedom Writers (2007)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Freedom Writers (2007) officially released in India in Hindi?
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