FREEDOM WRITERS
An uplifting classroom drama, but adults should expect strong language and violence.
Should You Watch It?
You get a sincere, emotionally powerful classroom drama with interesting characters and situations. Freedom Writers urges young people to do the right thing, tell the truth, treat others with kindness and respect, and reject murderous violence and racism. Its message about gaining knowledge and applying it to life is especially encouraging.
The movie is also too slick and polished for its own good. More seriously, it contains plenty of foul language and some gun violence, including a disturbing shooting. Its mostly secular approach to education and moral change may also trouble some Christian viewers, even though the film includes one positive mention of God.
If you are an adult who can weigh those concerns, Freedom Writers has enough merit to earn a viewing; for children and young teens, choose something else.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESErin Gruwell is a young teacher who begins teaching freshman and sophomore English at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, two years after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Her classroom includes Hispanic, Black, Asian, and white students divided by gang warfare and hostility.
When a racist drawing exposes the hatred among them, Gruwell turns to the history of National Socialist Germany and the genocide against the Jews. She asks her students to face the past, write about their own experiences, and consider whether their lives can change.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means this is a good, entertaining film with clear limitations. Its heartfelt, provocative moments and morally positive messages give it genuine emotional and intellectual appeal. The characters and situations are interesting, and the story can be uplifting.
The main weakness is that the movie feels too slick and polished. Its emphasis on a public school teacher is mostly secular and somewhat Romantic, but its repeated calls to reject racism, gang activity, hatred, and violence remain compelling.
The Worldview
Freedom Writers presents education as a powerful means of changing individuals and society. It exalts truth, kindness, politeness, respect, moral courage, and the rejection of racism and gang violence. The students gain knowledge about higher moral values and begin applying what they learn to their lives and relationships.
The film’s approach is slightly liberal and more strongly secular. It treats moral transformation primarily through education and human effort rather than a transcendent relationship with God. This reflects a Romantic view that education can transform people and society for the better, while the movie’s positive moral focus keeps it from becoming offensively secular or liberal. It includes one positive mention of God, but faith in Jesus Christ is not the center of the story.
The film’s longing for changed lives aligns with Scripture’s call to renewed thinking: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong moral worldview encourages young people to do the right thing, tell the truth, be kind, be polite, treat others with respect, gain knowledge about truth and apply it to your life and those around you, etc., with one positive mention of God (plus song talks about making a stand and promoting light and truth, and respected elderly woman encourages rapt students to light a candle in the darkness) and some light Romantic notions about the power of education to transform, but doing the right thing is emphasized most of the time so it's couched in a context of fulfilling good moral values, and, though the movie has a slightly liberal point of view about race relations and education, it's not politically correct because it generally avoids multiculturalism and the identity politics of envy of the current liberal left, but there's a silly feminist element in that the protagonist is married but writes "Ms." before her last name; 26 obscenities (including one to three "f" words with two seeming to be muffled if they occurred at all and one "s" word in lyric title over end credits), two strong profanities, and three light profanities; light references to gang violence such as one gunfight, gangs twice rough up teenage girl, man shot in chest (shown from long shot), fighting in classroom, a melee in the school yard, talk about the Holocaust but nothing really violent, TV scenes of 1992 riots in Los Angeles, and strong violent scene where teenage boy ducks gunfire and another teenage boy is hit in chest and there is a close up of the bloody hole in his chest with a pool of blood swelling from under his dead body (but nothing extremely graphic or really bloody); no sex scenes; no nudity; brief alcohol use with man drinking wine; no smoking but verbal references to drugs (nothing really implied and nothing depicted – movie is much more about the gang violence and hatred between ethnic groups); and, inner city gang activity and racism are very strongly rebuked, but a married couple gets divorced.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The students are challenged to reject hatred and treat others with respect. What does Scripture say about loving your neighbor, even when differences divide people?
Mark 12:31 · James 2:1–9The movie connects knowledge with changed behavior. How should learning truth affect the way you live?
John 14:6 · Romans 12:2Gang violence and racism are strongly rebuked. What does it look like to pursue peace when anger and group loyalty are pulling people toward harm?
Matthew 5:9 · Galatians 5:22–23The film presents education as a force for transformation. What can education do, and what kind of transformation requires God’s work in us?
Romans 12:2 · Galatians 5:22–23The Final Word
Freedom Writers offers adults an entertaining and uplifting story about truth, kindness, respect, and rejecting hatred. Its secular approach, strong language, and gun violence make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For another family choice, see.
