Dark yet compelling

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2007)

A former Neo-Nazi Derek (Edward Norton) comes out of prison, determined to put his past life behind him and be there for his family especially for his brother Danny (Edward Furlong) who is following in his footsteps. His past life is told in black and white flashbacks throughout the movie so we get to see the type of person he was before he went into prison. What is ironic about the film is Derek got his brother interested in the neo-Nazi cause and it is up to him now to show his brother there is more to life then mindless hatred.
There is a lot of complaints about the acting and the subject matter but I think those people ain't seeing what the film is trying to say.
It is a very dark film that doesn't flinch away from the subject matter, the violence is hard to watch at times especially when Derek is raped by his fellow skinheads. What is disturbing most about the film is Derek and Danny are very clever but their minds are getting twisted by hatred that has no direction.
I think the acting is not bad. Edward Norton is just mesmerising in the dual roles he has to play in this film. The first being a skinhead, you can see the madness from within him being translated to his eyes. Then as the changed man, his devastation when he see's his dead brother, has me in tears every time.
Edward Furlong isn't bad either, although at times, he does come across as wooden. Stacy Keach plays a charismatic leader of the skinheads who twists their minds, even though he doesn't belief half the things he says to them and keeps his own agenda hidden from them so he can keep his control over them. He is also seen as a coward who is quite happy to incite all this hatred but not to take part in it. Avery Brooks who played Captain Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, plays a professor who sees past the brothers idiotic hatred and wants to turn their focus to something positive.
If I have one negative thing to say, it is that I would have liked the film to show what happened to Edward Norton's character after his brother died, whether he went back to his old ways or continued on the more positive path and try to turn the skinheads away from the violence and hatred they embraced.
This film just had me from start to finish.