Analysis of Film the Freedom Writers by Erin Gruwell
Analysis of Film The Freedom Writers By Erin Gruwell
Scene / Summary / Technique / Effect1 / The war has been declared
- a riot breaks out in LA because the (white) police who beat up Rodney King were let free and (black) people felt they had been oppressed for too long.
- Eva is telling us how this is how her life has always been. / real footage of the LA riot with voiceover narration of news reports.
voice over of Eva explaining ‘the war’ from her POV through a flashback of her experiences (boxing glove from father, seeing her cousin being gunned down) – “War has been declared” / - feel afraid / scared for the people who live there
- feel glad we don’t live there
- feel sad for Eva as she is not allowed to be a little girl – she has to be a gang member / violent.
2 / Welcome to Freshman English / Mise en scene contrast (props) to educational ‘wealth’ of honours classroom (whiteboard, clean/new desks) to ‘poverty’ of Erin’s class (blackboard, one small piece of chalk, no duster, old misused desks)
Mise en scene students sit in different ethnic groups and move desks into groups / backs to teacher
Internal dialogue (of students)
‘I give this bitch a week’ (Jamal)
‘White boy’s hoping he’s in the wrong room’ (Marcus)
Montague / series of close ups of students off task (dropping bags, turning desks, eating, reading magazines, painting nails, drawing on books)
- “It’s the dumb class cuz – it means you’re too dumb” (Andre)
- “… can I get some help in here?” (Erin)
3 / Tribes / Voice over narration of Eva
“school is like a city and the city is just a prison”
Action - fights (Paco/Grant and Eva/Sindy) contrasting with mural of peace symbol
Sign posting future event (Grant Rice beats up Eva’s boyfriend Paco) when Paco kills Cambodian boy (when planning to Grant Rice) and Eva tells the police it was Grant Rice in retaliation.
4 / Borders / Action - Erin tells students to move – breaks up their ‘borders’ – ‘I ain’t sitting back there all alone.”
Time lapse of class becoming emptier and emptier as students stop coming to school (until they are all brought back by the truancy / parole officer)
‘Digiable Planet’ sound track (a song about ‘peace’ / being ‘chill’ – not confrontational) Parallel structure of the two girls getting ready (Eva and Sindy) using transitions (radio, closet, clothes, behind the mirror) and close ups so you can’t tell which girl is which (getting dressed, doing hair, putting on makeup and jewellery) – in the car it looks like they are even sitting next to each other in the back seat.
5 / You don’t know me / Dialogue
- “just leave it alone” (Jamal)
- “Tito has real talent don’t you think?” (Erin)
- “I’ve saw a picture just like this once. It was in a museum” (Erin)
- “You don’t know nothing.” (Eva)
- “I don’t know you (Andre)
- “white people always wanting our respect … I hate white people.” (Eva)
- “it ain’t this, I know that much.” (Andre)
-“… you’re dead and nobody is going to want to remember you because all you left behind was this.” (Erin)
- “raise your hand if you know what the holocaust is? Raise your hand if anyone in the classroom has ever been shot at?” (Erin) / .
6 / The line / Dialogue
‘You can’t make someone want an education. The best you can do is make them learn to obey.’ (Campbell)
When the students step on the line they don’t look each other in the eye. They get quieter the more serious the question (where they need to be honest)
‘You decide’ (Erin)
‘My Badness’ (Erin)
‘Everyone has their own story’ (Erin)
7 / War stories / - Superimposing of verbal (handwriting from student’s journals) and visual (violent/horrible experiences) images with voice over narration
“in every war there is an enemy” (Brandy)
“all they see is a dead body, a gun and a nigga” (Marcus)
“do what you have to pimp, deal, whatever” (Andre)
“if you pull up my shirt you’ll see the bruises” (Gloria)
“I’ve seen more bodies than a mortician” (Jamal)
“during the war in Cambodia” (Sindy)
“I will protect my own no matter what” (Eva)
“Nobody cares what I do” (Tito)
“I hate the feel of the gun against my skin” (Alejandro)
“risking life, dodging bullets, pulling triggers. It’s all worth it.” (Marcus)
8 / Permission / “You’re going to get an extra job to pay for your job” (Scott)
“I’d rather deal directly with someone in power.” (Erin)
“Why should they waste their time showing up?” (Erin)
9 / Tolerance / Voice over narration
“she doesn’t see me, she doesn’t see me at all” (Andre referring to his mother who will not look at him because he looks like his father who ‘split’) This is sign posting of something that happens later in the film when Erin says “I see you”
Mise en scene – Holocaust Museum
Voice over narration
“At the beginning of the tour you get a photo of a child.” (Andre)
“My little boy died. He got off the train and they killed him. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. I’ve seen death all my live. But this little boy was only 5.” (Alejandro)
‘real’ people – holocaust survivors telling the students their ‘real’ stories.
Soundtrack – “Things will get better”
- Alejandro gets rid of his gun
- Marcus goes to his ‘home’ and writes in diary.
10 / Home / Sophmore year
“Victoria to give us the black perspective.”
“Still white I see” (Marcus / Ben – becoming friends)
Mise en scene ‘toast for change’ – classroom / relationship between students has dramatically changed.
“One day my war will end and I will not die” (Brandy)
“I’d like her to see me graduate. I’d like to see 18” (Marcus)
Miguel reads from his diary (the kids don’t even know his name but they still accept him) “My summer was the worst summer in my 14years of life … I am home” (referring to how being in Erin’s English class gives him hope in a life without hope).
11 / The diary / The students read (voice over narration) parts of the Diary of Anne Frank and find similarities between their lives and hers.
“When is Anne going to smoke Hitler?” (Eva)
“Are Anne and Peter going to hook up?” (Eva)
“Why didn’t’ you tell me she dies ... if she dies what are you saying about me.” (Eva)
“She ain’t dead at all …” (Marcus)
Sound track “this is how we do it”
Montage of students raising money, newspaper articles, dancing, while Erin sends their letters to get Miep Gies (the woman who helped hide Anne Frank) to ask her to come to visit them.
*note Marcus and Ben handshake and the impact of it on their friends (this is a motif in the film)
12 / Heroes / “I’ve never had a hero but you are my hero” (Marcus)
“You are the heroes. You are heroes every day.” (Miep Gies)
13 / Courage / I want to come home. I don’t want to be on the streets anymore. I want to change but I can’t to it alone. I need you mama.” (Marcus) Two shot / midshot – walking from the dark (outside) into the light (home)
“I saw. I saw. Paco did it. Paco killed the guy.” (Eva) Contrast shots of the different groups in the court room (Cambodian, Black, Latino)
“I think I’ve got your colour” Two-shot of Sindy and Eva overcoming the last barrier (enemies to friends)
Soundtrack - Guitar and drum music picks up “Stand for light” sound track – montage of students engaged in their learning / dinners / debates while Erin works her three jobs.
Voice over narration – Ben making a comparison of his life to Freedom Writers (civil rights movement) “I must have some kind of courage because I stayed” (Ben)
14 / Who would you pick? / “I’m living a life I just did not agree to.” (Scott)
“I can’t be your wife.” (Scott)
“I’m not one of those kids, I don’t have any more potential” (Scott)
“But it’s such a great idea.” (Erin)
“Justice doesn’t mean the bad guy goes to jail it just means someone pays the price.” (Andre)
15 / Blessed with burden / “I thought you knew I don’t teach juniors.” (Erin)
“Miss G this is our kicking spot … there’s no place out there like this for us.” (Eva)
“We could paint the administration building with the word asshole in various colours.” (Tito)
“You are blessed with a burden and I envy you that.” (Steve)
“I just want to stay with my kids next year.” (Erin)
“You can’t teach them … you don’t even like them.” (Erin)
16 / Our own voices / “This is a f*** you to me an everyone in this class … I’m not letting you fail … do you understand me I can see you and you are not failing.” (Erin to Andre about missing class and his self-evaluation)
“No it doesn’t mean mother …(Andre) It’s a sign of respect for you” (Eva)
“Don’t use me as another excuse of why you can’t make it – you made it to your junior year think about how you did that.” (Erin)
“I have one final project in mind…” (Erin)
Montage of students typing and voice over “Miss G wanted us to put our diaries in a book like Anne Frank .... something to leave behind to say we were here.” (Eva)
Caption saying ‘the freedom writers were the first in their families to graduate and go on to university’ (Erin taught them until they graduated from HS and then followed them to University where she started the
Freedom Writers Outreach Program
Real photo of graduating class – similar to one seen on Ms Campbell’s wall at the beginning of the film