History Film / FreedomWriters

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: At the very beginning, Margaret suggests that Erin remove her necklace, citing that the kids were likely to steal it. She doesn't, believing in the best in the kids. She also [[RuleOfSymbolism rarely is seen without it]], just like she never loses faith in her students.

* AbusiveParents: Some students have these. Brandy writes about it in her diary.

* InnerCitySchool: UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson High.

* MirroringFactions: Erin sees gangs and the Nazis as one and the same kind of gang. She even gives the students a big speech about them, without actually saying their group name, and calls them the most successful gang in history, as they conquered ''nations'' while the students' gangs conquer neighborhoods. It's through this that Erin sees how she can get through to them.

* OlderThanTheyLook

* PronouncingMyNameForYou: The E of Eva's name is pronounced with a long a, not a long e. She will not hesitate to correct someone who mispronounces her name.

* TotallyRadical: When Erin attempts to talk like her students.

* AdultsAreUseless: This is essentially what Erin's students initially believe, and considering their lives outside school, it's justified. Erin helps turn it around somewhat, but only in that they come to believe adults ''except Erin'' are useless.

** Eva when she finds out how Anne Frank died after the class was assigned [[Literature/AnneFrankTheDiaryOfAYoungGirl her diary]]. Although, there are implications that she didn't know the book was nonfiction. She actually thought that Anne was going to defeat Hitler.

* TokenWhite: Ben.

* HeelFaceTurn: Eva, when she admits that someone from her gang killed a boy at a convenience store, after being inspired by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miep_Gies Miep Gies]]--when the class gets her to speak at their school--to do what's right.

** Jamal gives one to Erin, as do Marcus and Eva, out of the [[JustifiedTrope belief that she doesn't understand how they live.]] Erin hands one right back after discovering one of her Latino students has drawn a hateful, propaganda-like picture of a black student. It goes back and forth between the class and her, and she wins when she finishes the back-and-forth verbal spar by telling them that if they die in gang violence, they'll rot in the ground and be completely forgotten by the rest of the world. It drives students like Eva to tears, and none of the students have anything to say to her.

* UndyingLoyalty: Eventually, the kids develop this for "Ms. G". They find out her husband was cheating on her and offering to get revenge. She convinces them that it's not worth it because she doesn't want them going to jail on her behalf.

* GodwinsLaw: A particularly epic subversion. Erin grabs a note while it's being passed, to discover it's one student's racist caricature of another. This is actually somewhat mild, considering many of the students spend their free time KILLING EACH OTHER in gang warfare. Gruwell spots the apt Nazi parallel, milks it for all it's worth, bakes it 'till it's cheesy, and shoves it down the students' throats. Massive group racial tolerance ensues.

* HeroicBSOD: Eva when she finds out how Anne Frank died after the class was assigned [[Literature/AnneFrankTheDiaryOfAYoungGirl her diary]].

* MirroringFactions: Erin sees gangs and the Nazis as one in the same kind of gang. She even gives the students a big speech about them, without actually saying their group name, and calls them the most successful gang in history, as they conquered ''nations'' while the students' gangs conquer neighborhoods. It's through this that Erin sees how she can get through to them.

''Freedom Writers'' is a 2007 drama based on a non-fiction book about a young teacher thrown into a class of at-risk students during the L.A. Riots of 1992. She's given an integrated class, which seems anything but, as each race sits with others of their kind. As the story progresses, the integrated class becomes what it was meant to be. The name comes from the fact the students are given diaries to write whatever they want in, that can be private or read by the teacher. They write about their family situations, their feelings, and being at-risk teens, the diaries are full of {{angst}}.

* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: Eva will not hesitate to tell you it's pronounced AY-va. Which is TruthInTelevision; Eva in Spanish is indeed pronounced as that.

* TheCameo: The real Erin Gruwell can be seen briefly when Miep Gies (yes, the real one) is escorted into the Wilson High library.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: A couple of the students realize this. During the "Toast for Change", one girl proudly declares that her personal war will come to an end, and she will survive it, and she will make sure she gets past it. Another girl declares that she will not become a TeenMom dropout like everyone, including herself, thought she would.

* HeroicBystander: Miep Giles was this, hiding the Franks during the Holocaust. When they were busted, Miep grabbed all her valuables and offered them to the Nazis. It didn't work, and she says she wasn't brave or a hero, just doing what any decent person should do to save their neighbors.

* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: Eva will not hesitate to tell you it's pronounced AY-va. Which is TruthInTelevision, Eva in Spanish is indeed pronounced as that.

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Black honors student Victoria has this written all over her face when her teachers asks her to give "the black perspective" of the ''The Color Purple''. She's so visibly angry that her voiceover is little more than a little bonus for the audience to truly understand just how angry she is.

* InnerCitySchool: UsefulNotes/WudrowWilson High.

* HateSink: Brian Gilford, the honors English teacher. At first he seems kinda friendly to Erin, but then quickly reveals himself to be an incredibly racist BitchInSheepsClothing POS. He not only thinks "immigration doesn't work" (which gets him a DeathGlare from an Asian faculty member), he asks the one Afro-American student in his class to give them "the black perspective" on ''Literature/TheColorPurple'' apparebtly thinking all black people think the same.

* InnerCitySchool