"People Look At Me And See My Brother", A History Lesson

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2019)

Kaye helms one of the best films exploring racism in recent memory. This film has excellent direction, screenplay, settings, cinematography, score and acting. The entire cast delivers exceptional performances. In particular Norton, Furlong, Brooks, Falk and Keach are superb. Norton commands the silver screen and his performance is absolutely mesmerizing. The plot revolves around a neo-Nazi, Derek and his younger brother, Danny. Danny is assigned the task of writing a paper on his beliefs by his school's guidance counselor, Dr. Sweeney after submitting a book report on, "Mein Kampf". Dr. Sweeney is the former teacher of Danny's brother Derek. As Danny sits at his computer to start the paper the story of his family's history begins. We find his brother Derek is a very intelligent neo-Nazi who spreads his hatred, propaganda and recruits for the local chapter leader Cameron. Derek is doing time for committing a heinous act of vengeance after his dead father's truck is stolen. During his time in jail Derek is subjected to a brutal assault and is visited by his former teacher. This experience opens his eyes as to why he embraced the neo-Nazis after a life growing up in an environment of violence, hate and racism. Upon his release Derek's mission is to save his family and change his brother's path while struggling with old associates and his own past. This leads to a confrontation with Cameron and a equally eye opening story he tells Danny. The plot is intense, violent, thought provoking, insightful, heartwrenching, disturbing and has a poetic ending. There are many memorable scenes and not just quotes, but speeches in this film. After his reunion with his brother, Danny's report starts off as, "People look at me and see my brother". If only that was not the case, but sometimes it takes tragic events to see things differently, change one's beliefs, end the violence and alter one's future. This remains one of the very best modern day films probing racism and violence. It is a sublime and brilliant work of art in it's genre.