Nasty, Unsettling, Possibly a Classic...

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2007)

"American History X" is a pretty conventional film. The plot could be summed up as "Good boy gets led down the wrong road, realises the error of his ways and tries to distance himself from his misdeeds."
Hollywood has done this sort of thing hundreds of times before but there's something about "AHX" that gripped me from start to finish. I thought that I knew how the movie would end, but I didn't. There was just enough exposition about race hate to make me question my own prejudices. There were some powerhouse performances, particularly Edward Norton's.
"AHX" isn't a perfect film by any means. Some scenes (like the one establishing Derek's father's racist credentials) don't work because their messages are too obvious. The pathos of the final scenes are diluted somewhat by a flagrant disregard for police procedure, which almost pushes the film into melodrama territory.
I wonder what the film would have been like if director Tony Kaye had been allowed to complete his edition of it. As it stands, it's a thought-provoking and mostly uncompromised glimpse of the racial tension that simmers in every mixed-race culture. Perhaps Kaye WAS taking too long to finish off a simple story, but perhaps the message that he wanted to convey would have been more powerful if the studio suits hadn't rushed him..?