Freedom Writers is a solid effort to tell the story of inner city children who learned to look at life differently after unwittingly becoming Gruwell’s very first classroom of students.
Sound:
The film is presented with English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 multi-channel soundtracks. The Spanish option was not available with the standard definition release, but the English Dolby Digital 2.0 mix is now absent. This dialogue heavy film always delivers clear and intelligible discussion. The film does contain a couple notable song selections that feature strong bass and push the soundtrack nicely. Bass was perhaps the only area that was noticeably improved over the standard definition release. Once again, the rear surrounds contain a few environmental sounds, but are mostly silent. During an important scene where an Asian teen is gunned down, the gunshots ring loud and clear. "Freedom Writers" is a clean sounding film that does everything necessary to push its story, but the film is not an audibly impressive or intense experience, as the source materials limit the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix and doesn´t improve much over the original standard definition release.
Extras:
"Freedom Writers" contains most of the supplements that were part of the original DVD release. The omissions are negligible in value and a high definition trailer has been inserted in their place. The real meat makes its way to both high definition releases. The most notable supplement is the Commentary with Director Richard Lagravenese and Actor Hilary Swank. A lot of information is provided on the real life Erin Gruwell and her students. Swank has some anecdotes on working with Gruwell and gushes with praise. For anybody interested in the true story of Gruwell and her Freedom Writers, this is a very informative commentary and Swank´s involvement shows her resolve in telling the story of Erin Gruwell. The Deleted Scenes (11:01) are strung together and feature more moments with Swank and the film´s students. Some of these are very nice moments and others are simply extended and alternate takes of existing scenes, but at 122 minutes running time, I can understand why they were not included. I would have liked to have seen the "Schindler´s List" bit left in.
Making a Dream (5:26) looks at the musical involvement of the film and features segments with the recording artists who helped create the music for the film. This was a short and forgettable vignette. The Freedom Writers Family (19:22) is a slightly more interesting supplement and looks at the making of the film and the good times had by the cast as they brought the book "The Freedom Writers Diary" to life. There was a lot of respect and camaraderie on the set and the young actors enjoyed working with the far more veteran Hilary Swank. Aside from the commentary, the most impressive supplement was Freedom Writers: The Story Behind the Story (10:04). I was disappointed in the short length of this featurette, but it contained a lot of relative information on the film´s subject matter and more time with the real Erin Gruwell. A high definition Theatrical Trailer replaces the photo gallery and previews that were contained on the standard definition release.
Closing Comments:
Hilary Swank brought passion in bringing the true life story of English teacher Erin Gruwell to the big screen. The real Erin Gruwell is a very special lady and her work with under privileged inner city children has been nothing short of commendable. Hilary Swank´s work as an actress has been commended a few times by the Academy Awards. Swank´s talent shines through as the special actress portrays the special English teacher. "Freedom Writers" is a solid effort to tell the story of inner city children who learned to look at life differently after unwittingly becoming Gruwell´s very first classroom of students. If more people would look at life in a manner similar to Gruwell and see people for who they truly are, we would be living in a far better world. The HD-DVD release of "Freedom Writers" is a notable effort to bring the story of Erin Gruwell into the living room, although it is not a large improvement over the recent standard definition release. The sound and video are good, but nothing to write home about. Thankfully, the nice supplements make their way to the HD realm to add some value to this release.
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[release]20879[/release]