Absorbing Lesson

Rating: 8/10 (20 October 2008)

A high school student idolizes his neo-Nazi older brother who is released from prison after serving a sentence for killing two black men. Norton is excellent in fleshing out a character who is scary because he is intelligent but filled with hate against minorities. Furlong gives a finely understated performance as his quiet younger brother. In fact, the entire cast does a good job, including D'Angelo as Norton's mother and Gould as a Jewish teacher subjected to Norton's venomous rage. A remarkable film debut for director Kaye, although his at-times overly flashy camera-work and use of extreme closeups for no apparent reason is distracting.