Freedom Writers is a 2007 American biographical drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey and Mario.

Plot

In 1994, in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell has been hired to teach Freshman English for at-risk students at Woodrow Wilson High School, a formerly prestigious school that has declined since voluntary integration had been enforced and where racial tension has increased since the Los Angeles riots two years before. Erin struggles to form a connection with her students and observes numerous fights between some of them, who are in rival gangs. She attempts to instill respect, but they ignore her and continue to be disruptive in class. The second day of school, much of the student body is involved in a massive brawl when one of Erin's Hispanic students Eva Benitez lets her boyfriend Paco onto the campus with their fellow gang members. Erin goes home upset and distraught as she had witnessed another one of her Hispanic students Alejandro Santiago bring a gun to school.