A must

Rating: Null/10 (5 March 2003)

`American History X' is, among innumerable other things, a character study at the core. Edward Norton plays Derek Vinyard, a prodigious, reformed, former white supremacist released from prison after three years for killing two African-Americans. Edward Furlong portrays Danny, his younger brother, who idolizes Derek (even more so after said arrest) and begins moving along the same hate-filled path in high school. The film crosscuts between the past, in black and white, beginning with Derek's lapse into racism inherited by his father (who's killed by a gang while working as a firefighter) to his release from prison and between his contemporary attempts in the course of about 12 hours to set Danny straight. Danny's come under the thumbs of Cameron, a rich white-power activist who funds propaganda, parties, white power bands, etc, and once schooled Derek.
Norton's Derek is portrayed as resorting to hard-core white supremacy as a panacea to the gap left in his life after his father's murder, and eventually growing to impose it on his family as shown in an absolutely shocking dinner-table scene before going completely out of control and ending up in prison. He complete transforms himself into the character, and his Derek makes an almost swaying argument about the marginalization of people in America that can happen because of `affirmative action'; more appropriately, it's easy to see what would make him resort to this form of hatred and neo-Nazism based on his personal experiences, and what makes him so convincing and influential to Danny. Derek isn't shown as a monster the way one would expect, but rather as an intelligent, sincerely enraged young man resorting to violence and enmity as explanation for the wrong blows life has dealt him; he rationalizes in hate and bigotry to compensate for what's gone wrong. And he's absolutely terrifying, while also immediately accessible. Furthermore, the dynamic between Furlong and Norton is totally believable as a relationship between brothers; Derek looks out for Danny and talks to him as an adult while they both know Danny's still a kid. The acting between the two of them reminded me in an off way of my own older brother; he's not a neo-Nazi, don't get me wrong, but the way awkwardness and love mix between two different ages is totally accurate in terms of emotional chemistry.
The movie approaches the race issue level-headedly and, while it definitely takes the side against racism and prejudice, it shows why people can be driven to grasp it so intensely as well as to how they can `unlearn' it. Danny follows Derek's example not because he too is consumed by the same rage but because he needs a positive role model. With this in mind, a reformed (I'm hesitant to use the word, because reformation is usually deliberate, whereas Derek is shown watching his neo-Nazist stability fall apart under its own weight in prison for a variety of reasons) Derek tries to dissuade him before it's too late. The white power group is shocked and confused when he comes back bitterly opposed to their message and in a way you can see how these people are bound together lovingly- almost like a community - through their supremacist opinions.
This is an important movie that deals with critical issues in our (or any) society. It's stunningly atrocious to watch and viscerally compelling, with a message that's challenging, acceptable, controversial and ultimately a thing of beauty at its center. The only problems I have with the movie are totally separate from the subject matter, but rather with the presentation of it - wall-to-wall music, slow-motion photography, etc. The dramatic impact of the scenes is potent enough on the basis of their contents, and doesn't need to be glossed up or saturated for an audience to be understood. This isn't really a problem in the movie, because the performances and dialogue keep things going smoothly, but in a more porous script I fear that this style of direction would slow things down to the point of pretension and self-indulgence. Director/cinematographer Tony Kaye seems to succumb (and this is really the only true flaw the movie could have aside from sheer unpleasantness) to a safe, clean presentation of acerbic, combustible dramatic material. This is a brilliant, electrifying stuff that needs to be seen by anyone who's wondered about the consequences (or the realistic defects) of intolerance.