Very overrated but not bad

Rating: 6/10 (17 April 2006)

I finally saw the famous "American History X" and while it was a decent movie, I'm reading here that it is one of the greatest films ever made? Maybe the greatest ever made? Wow, those are some accolades. I'm thinking, hey it was decent, but are you kidding me?
The film isn't bad, but no matter how one tries to disguise it, preachy is preachy. There are a few things not too evident in the film. One is how many "typical" Americans totally concur with the societal views of Norton's character, especially everything he said at the dinner table. Maybe people don't want another Hitler around, but millions do feel the way he did about immigrants and why America has been falling into the toilet. So when they come out the mouth with a guy with a huge swastika tattooed on his body, they appear to be "extreme." Considering that even right now, at this second,with racism so high among non-whites towards whites, and many millions of Americans being tired of the advantages illegal immigrants have for instance, those views aren't always so "extreme" after all.
And the racism in the film - it's predominantly white-on-black, and again, since the whites here are skinheads and Nazis, their views seem "extreme" despite the millions that agree (again, short of reviving Hitler). It is rare we see black-on-white racism in the movie, and even when we hear (or see in the deleted scenes) that the leader and the fat guy got attacked by blacks, they don't get too much sympathy from the viewer. The black kid in the final violent scene probably came the closest to showing any black racism, muttering the phrase "white boy" earlier in the film and getting in Danny's face.
The turnaround of Norton's character in the prison is just too convenient. The film even gets a little sappy here - watch the neo-nazi lighten up to his black cleaning partner, because the black guy does funny things and makes him laugh. It's almost like this black guy was there for Norton's amusement, putting on a minstrel show, even wearing a sheet over his head imitating a klansman and making funny sounds. Look, now they are even talking about basketball together! If you spend one-on-one time with anyone long enough you will lighten up to them, but to change your whole philosophy?
Even Norton's reason for his prison stay - gangbangers don't go after revenge anymore? After what happened, they don't even go after the family? Heck, they even knew the address!
I think the film may have been much better if the part that was supposed to be tagged on at the end of the film was actually filmed and inserted. "American History X" was a decent movie, and the acting was especially good. But it is a very flawed film, too easy, and really doesn't reflect reality as much as so many think it does.