So many reviews here I just want to add a few points. First, allow me to qualify, I am a LB Wilson graduate and attended K-12 in the LBUSD. LBUSD was integrated a very, very long time before this teacher taught for a few years. That aside, it is racist to assert that integration had anything to do with the problems at LB Wilson. It was my experience that integration enriched my experience. The problems asserted in this film were fictional. LB Wilson is ofter referred to as the "gem of the district." It is a great and beautiful HS in the Belmont Heights neighborhood (which is adjacent to Belmont Shore). So this ghetto theme they were passing off is a lie.
Rudy was a fun movie - I've seen it many times. But it was filled with lies. But it is fun so I can live with the Rudy Ruettiger exaggerations. In other words, I can overlook serious gaps in truth or logic if they're replaced with great writing, scenery and acting. Freedom Writers failed in every regard. That is, Freedom Writers delivered the lies and nothing else. It is my suspicion that a publicist was hard at work spinning this story.
I watched only 30 minutes before pulling the disk - I couldn't stand anymore. Speaking of standing, if you want to watch an inspirational movie about public school teaching in under-served areas of Los Angeles, watch Stand and Deliver. Jaime Escalante's multi-decade teaching career offers substantially more credibility over a teacher that lasted a couple or few years.
Rudy was a fun movie - I've seen it many times. But it was filled with lies. But it is fun so I can live with the Rudy Ruettiger exaggerations. In other words, I can overlook serious gaps in truth or logic if they're replaced with great writing, scenery and acting. Freedom Writers failed in every regard. That is, Freedom Writers delivered the lies and nothing else. It is my suspicion that a publicist was hard at work spinning this story.
I watched only 30 minutes before pulling the disk - I couldn't stand anymore. Speaking of standing, if you want to watch an inspirational movie about public school teaching in under-served areas of Los Angeles, watch Stand and Deliver. Jaime Escalante's multi-decade teaching career offers substantially more credibility over a teacher that lasted a couple or few years.