A Reflection

“A requirement turned ENRICHMENT”

Watching movie this Saturday never came to my mind because of so many requirements that I have to do, so during that day, I planned already which I have to do first among my list, and I saw my requirement at World Folklore, our class with Kuya Juvelan. And I have decided to do it first. After our lunch this day, I saw written on the board these words, “VTR: Freedom Writers, Highly Recommended”, and below it was these, “3^rd year Creative Writing students are required to watch.” Seeing those words, my plans for this day were shattered and adjusted. I felt bad by it but I said to myself, “its alright changes do come.” So upon letting it happen, letting those changes goes, questions streamed into my mind such as, what kind of movie is that? Who were the characters? What’s the story all about? Is it related to our subject?

Seeing the title, it gave me a hint that its all about writers and writing, but what kind of writers? I told to myself. And that’s my last question for that movie.

VTR (movie watching term in the seminary) time came and we went to Tanghalan (seminary’s all purpose hall). I placed myself behind the crowd, seating near Enzo, Whil and Del. When everyone’s settled, we immediately started the film. And I focused on seeing it.

The film started with chaotic scenes such us guns shooting, flames and smokes. Chaos, real chaos was depicted at the start of the film. And it was followed by a job scene interview. And from there the story pf the film started to flow.

The film was all about a new hired English teacher who has a class filled that all her students were gang members. So during the start of her classes, chaos always happens among her students. Seeing that, she started breaking the groups in her class and challenged her self to make her students united, and to know her students, these guys outside the classroom. And one day, she started giving off journals to her students and instructing them to just write, write everything that they want to write about. And asking them to put it in a cabinet if they want it to be read by her. At the beginning it hard for her and the students, but one night when she checked the cabinet all of her students’ journals were there, and seeing them, she started reading it one by one. Through these journals, she came to know them one by one for they write more about themselves and they opened their selves to her (I really like how they depict that part of the movie while she was reading each journal, as if they were talking to her). And through this method, she was able to capture the hearts of her students until they developed much affection to her and even to the point that they even don’t want to have another English teacher besides her.

The film, for me, was really superb. The story was awesome, as it focused on the teacher-students relationship and how the students became neophyte writers. I really admire the teacher as she courageously face this kind of students and harnessing them to become better and turning them into FREEDOM WRITERS.

I was able to relate on the story as I find myself writing poems and prose right now. Some maybe requirements but most of them were my enrichments.

After the film, I said to my self, I also was a FREEDOM WRITER – writing freely to express myself, to bring out that creative being inside of me. And as I write, I want it be read by those people concern or just want to know about me, just like the students did.