Pure perfection

Rating: 9/10 (10 January 2009)

Edward Norton is one of the greatest actors there is, and American History X is his greatest performance. His actions, as well as those of Edward Furlong, Avery Brooks and especially Guy Torry, are flawless.
It's the story of how a bright kid, Derek Vinyard (Norton), with wrong ideas gets in to a skinhead-gang because of a cunning leader who uses him for his own purposes, to establish nazism in America. Its frightening to see how much Dereks racistic opinions makes sense when hes arguing for them, I almost found myself agreeing with Derek(!), and its easy to understand how some people have gone so bad because of group mentality.
Then, when we watch Dereks life in prison, it feels like i'm being redempted myself. He befriends a black guy (Torry), learns how he got more years there for stealing a TV than Derek got for his double murder, and he is astounded. He (we) suddenly see through his clever arguing, and discover how stupid his ideas really is.
This is a hands down MIGHTY movie, and one of the best you will ever see. A solid 10/10