A Powerful must see Drama

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2002)

Few films have had an effect on viewers (at least for me) like 'American History X.' The movie gives us excellent characters and a meaningful plot and send a timeless message..."hate is baggage." The story involves Danny (Ed Furlong) and his brother Derek(Ed Norton). Danny is a punk and his teacher makes him write an essay after Danny does a book report on Mein Kampf. Danny eventually decides to just start writing about his older brother and skin-head leader, Derek. He tells about the family's past, how the father was killed by some black men and how Derek began to gain prestige as a Nazi Skinhead gang leader... Then Derek gets out of prison for murdering 2 black men. Now a changed man, he tries to steer his younger brother away from the Nazi Skinhead movement by giving him his story of being in prison and how horrible it was. This creates conflict in Danny who tried so hard to be like is older brother and is already deep into the local skinhead group. The film does an excellent job of striking emotions in the viewer. As a white man, I cringed when Derek stomps on the black man's head while making him bite the curb, but I could sort of sympathize with Derek as he goes off on a rant at the dinner table about how minorities bring down the system. The film does this constantly to us: IT uses triumphant music, humor, and character strengths to make us believe in Derek. We cheer when the skinheads beat the black guys in basketball for possession of the courts, but then we want to strangle Derek and his buddies when they terrorize the local convenience store which employs minorty workers. This is the other way the film gets us, by making us angry at the skinhead group and ultimately sympathetic again for Derek and his family at the film's end. The acting is incredible throughout the film. Norton was horribly snubbed as best actor in '98 for this movie. The characters are believable and we learn to care about them. Even if you are sensitive to racial issues or squeamish about profanity or nudity, you should not avoid 'American History X'. It is very powerful and may change the way you feel about certain people. You don't want movies to tell you WHAT to do, but this one, like 'Boyz n the hood' gives you an idea of what might happen if you don't have an open mind. Life is way too short to be p****d off all the time. Near perfect...9 out of 10.