Indeed, the film starts off as if she were the central figure before the focus shifts to her teacher, then fragments into a classwide diffusion. The key student is Eva, played by April Lee Hernandez with a bitter scowl darkening her strikingly beautiful face. Strangely but presumably to maintain a PG-13 rating, the film never touches on the teens’ sexual activity. ![]() Only in the margins do the students share their lives with viewers - abuse, broken homes, drive-bys, drugs and racism are everyday challenges. Before you know it, her class is one big rainbow coalition/summer camp love-in. She turns a racist classroom drawing into a brilliant teaching aid and instinctively realizes that reading “The Diary of Anne Frank” will hugely impact her students’ outlooks. Remarkably, she quickly turns into a savvy teacher with seemingly years of experience. Brimming with self-confidence over her lesson plans and holding a concept of inner-city youths that can charitably be called naive, Erin is shocked by the blatant disrespect, racism and hostility exhibited by her students. Swank’s name might boost the urban drama’s boxoffice potential into the $25 million-$30 million range, which considering its modest budget would be a success.Īccording to this movie, written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, Erin Gruwell (Swank) comes to Wilson High School after the Rodney King riots, much like Alice the day she fell down that rabbit hole. The film has inspired moments and fine performances from its young actors. ![]() On the other, there are these students starting to make connections between their lives and the lives of others through introspective writing. On one hand, this is a Hilary Swank vehicle with undue focus on the mundane problems - at least compared to the high drama in her students’ lives - of a neophyte teacher. So the Hollywood development process has produced a movie at war with itself. Sylvester Stallone Says Before Adele Bought His Mansion, She Told Him "No Deal" Without 'Rocky' Statue
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