On HD-DVD: Freedom Writers

Directed By Richard LaGravenese

Starring Hilary Swank

Let me say right off that yes this movie follows a formula that started with To Sir With Love and continued through Lean on Me and Dangerous Minds.  That's obvious from the trailers, the question remains: is the Freedom Writers a good rendition of the formula?

The Movie

Hilary Swank plays an idealistic English teacher in 1994 Long Beach California.  The riots are long over but the reminents still flounder within the school she teaches.  She is made responsible for a class of poverty stricken at risk youths that the system has given up on.  The typical elements of a story of this type are all in place with gang members challenging her authority and so forth.

Everything changes when she mentions the Holocaust and everyone seems uninformed.  She compares it to the life these students lead as minorities and asks them to begin keeping journals while introducing them to other historical figures of minorities trying to survive such as Anne Frank.

Based on a true story, just like nearly every story of this type is, Freedom Writers doesn't ever do one thing to surprise.  The formula is built from A to Z, from bad uneducated gang members to enlightened knowledge starved students.  Now with that said there are some good performances, most notably Hilary Swank herself.  She is believable and earthy, easy to identify, with the acception of some too goofy scenes.  The expected melodrama is present but kept to a minimum.  In fact it's often so well handled that instances where it's poorly handled stand out even stronger than normal.

If you like films such as Dangerous Minds and Lean on Me, Freedom Writers is actually better executed than those so you'll enjoy this one.  If you're looking for a unique story with a different approach to this type of subject matter you will be disappointed as I was.  The only thing I can say is the formula was well executed, but it's still a formula.

6/10

The Video

This is a new film, primed for a hi-def release and while it doesn't visually pop the anamorphic presentation does look fantastic with vivid colors, solid black levels, great detail, and realistic skin tones, with a minimum amount of grain.  The detail is quite stunning at times with the subtlest of details shining through giving the movie a stunning level of depth.

9/10

The Audio

The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix is solid and the hip hop tunes that make up the soundtrack are mixed heavy and make good use of the bass.  The surround usage isn't where I'd liked it to have been but overall it's a solid presentation.  The film is a dialogue driven film so pretty much everything comes from the front speakers until the music kicks in and some exterior shots also feature some good surround usage.

7/10

Packaging and Bonus Features

The single HD-DVD comes in a standard amaray case with artwork taken from the standard DVD.  Basically what we have for art is a floating head.  It gets the job done but it's nothing special.

First up for extras is an audio commentary with director/writer Richard LaGravenese and star Hilary Swank.  The commentary is upbeat and the two seem to get on well together but overall the discussions between them are far too few.  Swank explains that this is the first time she has seen the final cut of the film and she seems to be sucked into the film.  When the two do talk they cover some interesting topics such as casting, comparisons to the real life events, and casting.

There are three featurettes on the disc, the first of which is Freedom Writers Family.  This 20 minute featurette is made up of interviews with the cast and crew along with the real teacher the film is based on.  They mostly share stories of working together and of how close they all became during the making of the film.  It's a little better than the typical EPK featurette sharing some real behind the scenes information.  The next featurette is basically a continuation of the previous one.  This one is called The Story Behind the Story.  There are more interviews and a ton of clips from the film.  These two featurettes together offer some good information but at the same time there's tons of irritating back slapping going on.  Finally Making a Dream is a brief look at the making of a music video for a song in the film that samples Martin Luther King's famous speech.

There are a few deleted scenes that should have been deleted because they just would have drug out the proceedings more than necessary.  Lastly there's a theatrical trailer.

Sadly everything here is brought over from the standard DVD release.  There's nothing at all as far as extras that make this HD-DVD worth a purchase.  Now, the high quality presentation of the film does make the disc worth a buy though.

5.5/10

Basically if you like this film and you have an HD-DVD player this is the only version to buy but if you have a standard def TV the extras are the same on both discs so they alone wouldn't merit and upgrade.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Movie 6/10

The Video 9/10

The Audio 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 5.5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

-Stephen Lackey