'Freedom Writers' Earns High Marks ; Latest Film About Education Avoids Predecessors' Faults

Summary

---

Any film with an earnest message about education automatically gets moved to the head of the class, and from there can get moved back only by earning demerits for indiscretions such as bad acting, implausibility and gooey sentimentality.

Freedom Writers, which has a lot to say about education and the flaws in the American public school system, gets high marks - for effort and for merit. So much could have gone wrong here. It's as formulaic as any of its predecessors - Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me, Dangerous Minds and the granddaddy of them all, 1967's To Sir, With Love - in which a teacher placed in a classroom of "unteachables" must use unorthodox methods to get them in line and make them want to learn. Where a couple of those stories went astray, though, the highly inspiring Freedom Writers manages to maintain the integrity of its message.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

'Freedom Writers' Earns High Marks ; Latest Film About Education Avoids Predecessors' Faults

Writer/director Richard LaGravenese, best known for his screenwriting (The Fisher King, The Bridges of Madison County, The Horse Whisperer, Beloved), can take much of the credit. Freedo...

See the full content of this document

---