Based on the true story of Erin Gruwell, who really did wear those trademark pearls which in the film, bitchy head of department Imelda Staunton suggests she doesn't wear. She's good at playing nasty women. Hilary Swank plays the motivational teacher.
It's a great screenplay. I liked the 'stand on the line if...' scene in which she subtly shows the class, of mixed races, how similar they are. And the holocaust museum where you're given a photo of a child and only find out at the end whether they made it. And especially when Miep Gies (Pat Carroll) comes to talk and tells them they're all heroes.
Done without schmaltzy bits. When one of the class has explained she's just been called 'ma' not because of being a mother figure but as a sign of respect, she just takes it without any gushing or phoney crap.
With Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Scott Glenn (Silence of the Lambs), April Hernandez Castillo, Mario, Kristin Herrera, Jaclyn Ngan, Sergio Montalvo, Jason Finn, Deance Wyatt, Vanetta Smith etc.
Good hip hop soundtrack, of the time, half the credits for which state 'including a sample from...' Good editing by David Moritz (Jerry Maguire, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, Bottle Rocket, Elizabethtown). Photographed by Jim Denault. La Gravenese wrote The Fisher King, A Little Princess, The Bridges of Madison County, The Mirror Has Two faces, The Horse Whisperer, P.S. I Love You and the 'Pigalle' section of Paris Je T'aime (the Bob Hoskins story).
Had forotten about Rodney King, victim of police brutality in LA in 1992, sparked the Los Angeles riots.
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