This title is licensed for public performance by Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. Hilary Swank stars in this gripping story of inner-city kids raised on drive-by shootings and hard-core attitude -- and the teacher who gives them the one thing they need most: a voice of their own. Dropped into the free-fire zone of a school torn by violence and racial tension, teacher Erin Gruwell battles an uncaring system in a fight to make the classroom matter in her students' lives. Now, telling their own stories, and hearing the stories of others, a group of supposedly "unteachable" teens will discover the power of tolerance, reclaim their shattered lives and change their world. Freedom Writers is based on the acclaimed best seller, The Freedom Writers Diary. .