This film American History X, directed by Tony Kaye centers around an individual that was once a neo-Nazi skinhead ...

Rating: Null/10 (18 March 2012)

This film American History X, directed by Tony Kaye centers around an individual that was once a neo-Nazi skinhead and how he then has a sudden change on how he thinks about African Americans. The film touches the subject of racial discrimination. It shows how a group of people dislike so passionately a different race. The film features Edward Norton as Derek who tries to keep his brother from making the same mistakes he did. He tries to keep his brother from choosing the same path that he did. Danny which is played by Edward Furlong looks up to his brother and chooses the same path his older brother Derek has chosen. Derek is locked up for killing a couple of African Americans and is absent for a period of time in which his brother gets more involved with the skin heads. While Derek in prison he acquires a different outlook about African American and Caucasian people. He truly has a change of heart through his prison experience. The movie shows black and white and color scenes establish the past and the present. Through the use of this you can better understand the past that Derek had gone through. You can see the type of life that he lived and what his perception of white supremacy.
Kaye used slow motion in a number of scenes to emphasize a dramatic scene. He also used black and white scenes for the audience to distinguish the past from the present. These were important factors to the film. They kept the audience nailed to the scene waiting to see what was going to happen next. The flashbacks were portrayed through the use of black and white. They were Derek's previous actions and his way of thinking before. This flashbacks show how Derek was brought up to be a neo-Nazi. The present is shown through the use of color and how Derek's way of thinking has changed.
The theme is how racial discrimination can affect a person's way of thinking. It shows how a person can manipulate someone else's way of thinking and lead them to hate other people that are not the same color skin.