Abel Soto
Assigned the thankless task of teaching freshman English at a gang-infested Long Beach, CA high school, a 23-year-old teacher resorts to unconventional means of breaking through to her hardened students in director Richard LaGravenese's adaptation of Erin Gruwell's best-seller The Freedom Writer's Diaries: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. Her students had been written off, and her chances of succeeding scoffed at, but Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) wasn't about to go down without a fight. Long Beach is a place where a new war is waged with each passing day, and when the hardened students who walk those dangerous hallways sense an outsider attempting to understand their plight, their cynical resentment threatens to keep a deadly cycle in motion. Despite the initially hostile reaction she receives in the classroom, Gruwell uses the writings of Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo to teach her students not only the basis of the English language, but compassion and tolerance as well. Later, when the time comes to tell their own tales in a project specially designed to explore the daily violence that the majority of students have grown numb to, the barriers that had once stood so strong gradually begin to crumble. When the only chance for survival is to befriend the person who was once your mortal enemy, the world is opened to a whole new realm of possibilities. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, (more)
An unstable Gulf War veteran with a savior complex receives a shocking wake-up call upon returning stateside and accepting a position with the Department of Homeland Security in the directorial debut of Training Day screenwriter David Ayer. Jim (Christian Bale) is a Gulf War veteran who believes his sworn duty to protect his fellow Americans extends to the streets of Los Angeles, and he longs to fulfill his destiny by joining the LAPD. Rejected by the force and left to ponder his future with his impoverished Mexican paramour -- whom he had intended on bringing to the city after joining the police -- the dejected and unemployed veteran is offered a second shot at helping his country when he is subsequently approached by the Department of Homeland Security. As Jim and his unemployed best friend, Mike (Freddy Rodriguez), carve a swath of chaos through the streets of Los Angeles, the weight of their American dream soon comes crashing down in a devastating blow that threatens to dash their high hopes for a bright future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, (more)
- 2001
Patients brought into the ER include pugnacious retirement-community residents Walter (Tom Bosley) and Earl (Tom Poston), each of whom regards himself as God's gift to women. Elsewhere, Weaver (Laura Innes) and Legaspi (Elizabeth Mitchell) reconfirm their romantic relationship. Back at work, Greene (Anthony Edwards) is obviously having problems related to his brain-tumor operation. Corday (Alex Kingston) must overcome her crippling panic attacks in the operating room. Carter (Noah Wyle) admits his drug problems to his heroin-addict cousin Chase (Jonathan Scarfe). And Kovac's (Goran Visnjic) treatment of a patient working in an illegal sweatshop inadvertently leads to a case of arson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Two girls who grew up in a rough and tumble neighborhood try to find a way out of the cycle of gang violence and crime in this gritty urban drama. Cata (Katrina Marie Gibson) and Ana (Melida Prado) are two young women in their late teens who grew up together in the Latin ghetto of East Los Angeles. Cata and Ana are both gifted dancers, and have gained a name for themselves on the local nightclub circuit, but they're also both members of a neighborhood youth gang, and while they both realize gang life offers no real future, walking away is not as simple as it sounds. Cata, raised in a dysfunctional family, isn't sure what sort of future she might have, but Ana has ambitions of going to college and moving away. However, when her educational plans don't pan out, Ana tries to take another proven tack for escaping the gangs -- having a baby. Based on the acclaimed novel Party Girl by Lynne Ewing, Living the Life was screened at the 2001 Los Angeles Latino Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katrina Gibson, Melida Prado, (more)
- 2001
17-year-old Miguel (Renoly Santiago) is torn between loyalty to his fellow street-gang members and love for his girlfriend Anna (Crystle Lightning) and their baby. Making things worse for Miguel is Anna's hardhearted father (Jesse Borego), who absolutely refuses to let his daughter marry a "thug", child or no child. With Monica (Roma Downey), Tess (Della Reese) and Rafael (Alexis Cruz) on the scene, the situation may soon be remedied--but "soon" isn't soon enough for Miguel, who has been ordered to assassinate a rival gang member...or else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
In the first episode of a two-part story, it is revealed that Jill Kirkendall's (Andrea Thompson) ex-husband, drug trafficker Don Kirkendall (Erich Anderson), isn't dead after all -- and Jill knew it all the time. As Diane (Kim Delaney) tries to find out what Jill is up to, Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) and Jones (Henry Simmons) investigate the beating death of a man in a domestic dispute, which leads to a disturbing case of rape. And in his efforts to cope with his young son Theo's serious medical problem, Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) "talks" with his deceased older son, Andy. "Bats Off to Larry" and the subsequent "The Last Round Up" were originally telecast as a single, two-hour "special" episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
