The film Freedom Writers is about the conflicts outsiders face. Eva Benitez is a Latino girl forced to attend high school outside of her neighborhood because of desegregation rules for her school district. Away from the comfort of her scary gang life she faces many of her rival gang's members in class on a daily basis. Eva finds herself in Erin Gruwell's class. Erin is also an outsider. Erin is not supported by the faculty because she has new ideas and passion to back them up.
Eva gets ready for a night out with her gang, only to witness one of her gang's members kill a rival gang member, a friend of one of her fellow class mates. Eva lies to the police. She says she is "protecting her own." The day in court Eva struggles, right up to the last second. She decides to tell the truth. Eva tells them "Paco did it." The repercussion, of making the right decisions, was being "jumped" out of her gang in the way she was "jumped" into her gang. She felt very alone. She was an outsider in her world. Eva even had to physically relocate to her Aunt’s house.
Erin is an outsider to the facility at the school she is working at. She desperately wants to connect with her students. Erin seeks the assistance from Harrington to get books. When she is turned down she asks the other English instructor for support. She quickly learns that there is a strong dislike for her students and their ethnicities. Erin is finds herself working two jobs to support her classroom with books and field trips to excite her students about learning. Erin is also an outsider at home because she is unable to connect with her husband. She even finds that she is alone the night her husband leaves. She tries to call a friend and only has her father to lean on.
Eva and Erin find peace in themselves when they enter the classroom. Erin even tells her husband that her life makes since when she is helping her students make since of their crazy lives. Eva finds a friend in rival gang members after standing up and telling the truth. The movie does a great job of showing us that we all come from a different place but at the same time we are all the same. When we get ready for a night on the town, we all pick our clothes, put on our makeup and maybe even enjoy listening to music. When you don't have a sense of community you are left to feel like an outsider. There is a need to have people around you that have goals and dreams that support your goals and dreams. When there is a feeling that you are the only one it is hard to remember you’re not alone.
1 comment:
Interesting write, but it seems a bit more like a summary than an essay. In any case, I actually like the fact that it reads like a summary, because now I know what the film is about. It actually sounds quite interesting.
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