Freedom Writers is a bit like the troubled teenagers it depicts. Just when you think the film is wasting its potential and straying down the wrong path, it turns around to reveal genuine heart and emotional honesty.

The storyline itself is based on the real-life story of an amazing teacher and her at-risk students. If that sounds familiar, it should. Ever since Mr. Charles Chipping brandished a piece of chalk at the Brookfield School for Boys, the movies have been littered with the well-meaning bones of crusading teachers, some classic (To Sir with Love), some not so much (Dangerous Minds). But Freedom Writers is smarter than most. It gets so many things right, in fact, that its occasional lapses into melodrama are all the more off-putting.

Set in 1994, the movie stars Hilary Swank as 23-year-old Erin Gruwell, a rookie English teacher assigned to a freshman class at Wilson High School Long Beach, California. The Los Angeles race riots had occurred two years earlier, but their aftershocks continue to reverberate throughout the area's inner-city schools.

But Erin, idealistic and goofily chipper, is undaunted by such ugly realities. In a terrific opening scene, Erin visits her department head, Margaret Campbell (Vera Drake's Imelda Staunton), waxing on about her commitment to a fully integrated student body. Margaret smiles with bemused indulgence, a grownup listening to a babbling baby, before complimenting Erin on the strand of pearls she's wearing. "I wouldn't wear them to class," Margaret cautions. That simple exchange tells you everything you need to about a school system that has given up on its most difficult challenges.

Freedom Writers nicely illustrates what presidential candidate George W. Bush once dubbed "the soft bigotry of low expectations." Erin's class is made up of African Americans, Latinos and Cambodians (and one very nervous white stoner), all of whom are mired in poverty, violence and hopelessness. School administrators, expecting nothing from the students, have directed their attention and resources elsewhere.

A turning point arrives during a classroom discussion in which Erin makes a passing reference to the Holocaust. None of the students have heard of it. Shocked, Erin then asks how many of the kids have been shot at. Nearly every hand goes up, and this wet-behind-the-ears teacher finally understands the gulf that exists between her reality and that of these teenagers who endure a life that she can barely fathom.

Erin directs the young people to begin keeping journals about their experiences. In addition, she introduces the class to tales of other oppressed minorities, including The Diary of Anne Frank and a tour through the L.A. Museum of Tolerance. The confluence of ideas results in an educational awakening of sorts. It culminates when Erin's students raise funds to sponsor a visit from Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who helped Anne Frank and her family elude the Nazis.

Writer-director Richard LaGravenese (whose scripting credits include The Fisher King and The Bridges of Madison County) delivers scenes with emotional impact, but he can also be frustratingly inconsistent. He hits many notes right, such as the strained relationship between Erin and her husband (Patrick Dempsey), but the film can quickly devolve into overwrought cliché. Erin's cynical colleagues grow so unhinged and hostile, for example, you half-expect them to wind up drooling all over themselves while pulling the wings off butterflies.

Best of all is Hilary Swank. The two-time Oscar winner is in top form here, taking what could have been a walking contrivance and transforming her into a much more interesting, layered character. Erin Gruwell is one of those fabled teachers intent on making a difference, but she is not infallible. Swank and LaGravenese infuse her with a naïve gawkiness almost as pathetic as it is endearing. The movie boasts excellent acting throughout, especially April Lee Hernandez as a female gang member, but Swank's performance helps anchor Freedom Writers, keeping it from floating into away into cliché.

Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, Freedom Writers boasts an excellent picture -- crisp, sharply detailed and with vivid colors. No complaints.

The sound mix, captured in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Surround, is immersive and lends a punch to the movie's hiphop soundtrack.

An audio track is available in French, with subtitles available only in English. The omission of Spanish is curious, considering that several of the film's major characters are Latino.

Paramount tosses in a passel of so-so extras. A commentary with LaGravenese and Swank provides a reasonable amount of information, but isn't as compelling as one would hope. It would have been interesting to hear from Erin Gruwell or some real-life Freedom Writers.

The DVD has two standard promotional featurettes, both of which -- Freedom Writers Family (19:20) and Freedom Writers: The Story Behind the Story (10:03) – cover remarkably similar territory. The min-docs include interviews with cast and crew.

Eleven deleted scenes, which have an aggregate running time of 11 minutes, are a mixed bag. In a film that already suffers from sappy moments, several omitted scenes verge on mawkishness. Still, these clips reveal greater depth to the character of Erin's father, portrayed by the always reliable Scott Glenn.

Making "A Dream" (5:24) details the production of "A Dream," a hiphop track featured here that samples Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The song is a collaboration of Common and will.i.am.

Other bonus features include a theatrical trailer, photo gallery and previews for Transformers, Dreamgirls and Norbit.

In the wearisome genre of crusading-teacher pictures, Freedom Writers is several cuts above the rest. Although it isn't immune to overwrought cliché, the movie is heartfelt and mostly honest, and it boasts a terrific performance from Hilary Swank.