is available on Amazon Prime Video. Availability may vary by region.

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is usually available via paid platforms.

7.6 IMDb

69 Rotten Tomatoes

Where To Watch Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers follows Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), an idealistic young English teacher who begins working at a racially divided high school in Long Beach, Los Angeles. Her students—many of whom are surrounded by poverty, gang violence, prejudice and difficult home lives—initially have little faith in school or in one another. Instead of treating them as statistics, Erin tries to understand their experiences. She introduces books and writing exercises that connect with their lives, eventually encouraging the students to keep personal diaries. As Eva Benitez (April Lee Hernandez), Jamal Hill (Deance Wyatt), Gloria Munez (Kristin Herrera), Brandy (Vanetta Smith) and other students begin sharing their stories, the classroom slowly becomes a place where racial barriers can be challenged.

Biography Crime Drama

Release Date: January 5, 2007
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Genre: Drama, Biography, Crime
Duration: 2 hours 3 minutes / 123 minutes
Language: English
Starring: Patrick Dempsey — Scott Casey
Box Office: N/A
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime Video

More details about Freedom Writers and where you can watch

Based on real students: The movie is based on The Freedom Writers Diary, which collected writings from Erin Gruwell’s actual students. Paramount describes the movie as being based on the book and notes that several first-time actors drew from their own street experiences.

The students became published writers: The original classroom diaries were eventually turned into the bestselling book The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them.

Anne Frank connection: One of the movie’s most memorable literary elements involves Anne Frank and the Holocaust. Erin uses The Diary of Anne Frank to help her students understand that hatred and prejudice can have devastating consequences.

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Did You Know

Did you know that Hilary Swank took a significant pay cut to make Freedom Writers? According to IMDb’s trivia, the real Erin Gruwell specifically praised Swank for being willing to take a substantial reduction in salary because she cared about making the film.