英文影评: 自由作家 Freedom Writers review by PAM GRADY

英文影评: 自由作家 Freedom Writers review by PAM GRADY

自由作家,Freedom Writers

 

There is absolutely nothing new in the latest high school melodrama Freedom Writers. It follows to the letter the template set down by so many movies that have come before it, including To Sir, With Love, Up the Down Staircase, Conrack, Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, and Lean on Me. That does not make it a bad movie; in fact, Hilary Swank and the young actors playing her students make it an almost worthwhile endeavor, but annoying subplots and paper-thin villains ensure that the movie remains mired in mediocrity.
Like so many in this genre of movies, this one is based on a true story. Rookie teacher Erin Gruwell (Swank) has applied for the opening at Long Beach, California's, Woodrow Wilson High because its voluntary integration program impresses her. An idealist whose wealthy father (Scott Glenn) was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, she imagines a multicultural utopia. But the reality is that ethnic lines Balkanize the school and gang violence is an everyday occurrence. With plummeting test scores, the once top-rated school is racing toward the bottom, leaving teaching veterans like English Department head Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton) and honors English teacher Brian Gelford (John Benjamin Hickey) embittered. Gruwell's new class is a group of freshmen widely considered to be the next class of dropouts. No one expects anything from them, least of all the students themselves, but Erin begs to disagree.

 

What follows is pretty standard-issue stuff as the privileged white woman in the pearl necklace works to build the trust of her young charges, while simultaneously inspiring them to learn and encouraging them to see past neighborhood affiliations and skin color. But where Sidney Poitier took his class to the Victoria and Albert Museum so that they could see how past generations lived in To Sir, With Love, Erin takes her students to the Simon Wiesenthal Center to introduce them to the Holocaust and impress on them just how dangerous racism can be. Erin is a spark plug. She refuses to accept excuses, and she insists that the kids can work to their grade level, a vote of confidence most of them have never experienced. www.130q.com

 

Frankly, that story alone is really the only one the movie needs to tell, but writer/director Richard LaGravenese is not satisfied with that. There has to be conflict between Erin and Margaret and Brian, who do not just resent her meddling in the Darwinian educational system they serve, they are unapologetically racist as well. The two teachers are so poorly written and such stereotypes that they are scarcely believable. Another subplot in which the hard-charging Erin's marriage to slacker husband Scott Casey (Patrick Dempsey) hits the rocks when he begins to resent her dedication to her class is also wholly unnecessary. He is portrayed as the bad guy, but he has a point—when she takes two extra jobs to pay for supplies and field trips, exactly when is she supposed to have time for a marriage?

 

When LaGravenese sticks to the class, Freedom Writers is often very good, thanks to the strengths of the performances. These scenes are often overly melodramatic and clich閐, but Swank is excellent and so are the youngsters. It almost makes up for the deficiencies of the script and the over-familiarity of the story—almost.

 

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