35 best new Netflix movies and shows coming in March 2020

34. Freedom Writers

Release Year: 2007

Directed By: Richard LaGravenese

Starring: Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, John Benjamin Hickey, April Lee Hernández, Mario, Jason Finn, Vanetta Smith, Antonio Garcia, Jaclyn Ngan, Kristin Herrera, Gabriel Chavarria, Hunter Parrish, Giovonnie Samuels

Release Date: Sunday, March 1

This March, a wide variety of movies will be making a play for your Netflix watch list. Romantic comedies, gripping dramas, thrilling mysteries and anything you could imagine in between. While there’s plenty of heart and humor to go around, something we could all use in a movie marathon, especially right now, is a little inspiration. Luckily, the 2007 hit Freedom Writers arrives to bring the tearjerking moments we all want from the month’s best new releases.

Based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell, Hilary Swank stars in Freedom Writers as teacher Erin Gruwell, who takes a position as an English teacher at the racially divided Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles. Even though students have been written off and Erin initially struggles to connect with them, she doesn’t give up. Rather, Erin attempts to inspire her students to think about their futures by assigning them reading material that relates to their lives and supports their self-expression by motivating them to write journal entries.

Freedom Writers comes from director Richard LaGravenese, who also helmed such films as P.S. I Love You, Beautiful Creatures and The Last Five Years as well as writing films like A Little Princess, Water for Elephants and Unbroken. The film garnered mostly positive reception, earning a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing over $43 million worldwide against a $21 million budget. For an inspirational push, make sure to check out Freedom Writers when it begins streaming on the first of March.